


Back Into the Deep

by keykiyoshi7443



Series: Karma's Life After The Assassination Classroom [2]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist, Assassination Classroom, Ib (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Multi, Multiple Crossovers, Multiple Pairings, Other, Overpowering characters is what I dooooooo, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-19 01:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 98,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4727042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keykiyoshi7443/pseuds/keykiyoshi7443
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This takes place after chapter 148 in AssClass. Forgotten Portrait ending from Ib.</p><p>Akabane Karma has been hiding things from Class E, and after successfully killing Korosensei, his secrets are revealed. Akabane Karma is actually the son of Satan and his birth name is Okumura Rin. But that's not all, he also played the role of Ib in the great adventure that took place inside the Fabricated World and he is the leader of the most powerful gang in Japan. After discovering that he is a half demon he becomes an exorcist and then goes to True Cross to protect his twin brother. All goes well until he and his new friends are sent to the Fabricated World. Will they escape with their lives?</p><p>It may seem like trash at first glance but please push through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds
> 
> Hello Readers! Welcome to my first fanfiction. I will apologize once more for my inability to form proper sentence structure, grammar and any other mistakes that will inevitably piss people off, but I am in the first year of highschool. Oh yeah and *warning* if you are sensitive to profanity please reconsider your decision to read this story. If you really want to read it, then by all means, drop any type of comment you want. The more reviews the faster updates come! 
> 
> *** 
> 
> Oh my gosh I am sooooo sorry. I just finished reading the ending of assclass and I realized just how terrible my solution was. Please ignore the horrible idea and power through it!

Karma P.O.V

It was a normal day, well as normal as it could be for class 3-E. After the battle between me and Nagisa, we made an attempt at saving Korosensei. Despite popular belief, I could, in fact, have beaten Nagisa. He had the bloodlust but he never had a reason. He didn't want to beat me, he just wanted me to understand. I understand, that if I had actually tried I would use any trick in the book to beat him. But the battle had already been decided the moment it was just us left. I knew that the blue team would never accept me as a leader.  If I won, then he would never forgive me and lose all focus and be unable to make assassination attempts or plans. The blue team would slowly begin to resent the red team and we would lose many valuable chances of saving the world.

And so, I let Nagisa win by putting up enough of a fight that he, as well as everyone else, would think that he won fair and square.  They forget that I never practice with them. I watch and learn from Karasuma-sensei and create my own fighting style based around that. I have managed to convince Karasuma-sensei to work with me privately because I wanted to learn combat techniques, not just assassination techniques. I began my training and on all of the classes that I skip, Bitch-sensei teaches me a new skill. Not all of them are necessary but she understands that I want to go toe to toe with Asano-kun, so I have to possess as many skills as possible.

I think positively about this. After all, the government still probably has something up their sleeve. There is no way in hell they would leave the fate of the world up to a few junior high students right? But I am not going to let them unleash their plan. I will kill Korosensei. It has to be someone from the class otherwise we'll feel incredibly guilty for failing that monster. I admit now I kind of see him as a teacher. Well anyway, after our little spat, we tried to find a way to save Korosensei and ultimately crashed and burned. Ah, I knew it was inevitable but the look of disappointment on the classes face when the month ended. I felt a bit guilty that we couldn't find a way to save the bastard. But true to our word, we started up assassinations again.

Unfortunately, we are coming up on the last week of school. The time where we basically goof off because we graduated but we still have to go because the kohai did not. Because school was out of the way our assassination attempts became more and more detailed as well as frequent as we got desperate. We had 3 days left until the end of the world. None of our assassination attempts worked so far, we haven't even gotten as close as the time on the island. Not to mention if Korosensei really wanted to survive there would be nothing we could do seeing as he has his ultimate defense form.

It all seemed hopeless but it was time to put my plan into action. During the month after our 'save Korosensei' attempts I had been working on an assassination plan. None of the class knew about it but while Korosensei would be in Canada to watch a hockey game during our P.E. class, I would fill everyone in and set it up.

I managed to salvage all of the metal that the Reaper had left behind from the cage he trapped us in and made another one suspended over the pool Sensei had made for us. Lining the cage was the anti-sensei fabric. I hired some help from a government guy (the one that had betrayed us to Shiro); he said he owed us this much especially after what he did. He would take the students that I didn't have a set plan for, and hold them hostage, luring Korosensei into the trap. From there he would leave and close the gates behind him. Effectively locking most of us in. Korosensei would be hard pressed to stand inside the cage as I would also shine the paralyzing light upon him. I had also placed a giant boulder in the center of the pool for Korosensei and a small group of assassins to stand/fight on. He would be trapped seeing as he is surrounded by all of his weaknesses and he cannot just explode because we are all in close proximity (I also made sure he had shed his skin earlier that day). As there are only 3 days left before the world ends he wouldn't put up much of a fight especially since he knows that the government plans something for the last day and he wants us to kill him. This is why he will fall for the stupid attempt at luring him in, in the first place. He'll know it's a trap but he will go anyway because he doesn't want to end the world.

The disappointed and grief-filled faces we would make at him before he did so would destroy him. Above all else, he values us and how we make him a teacher instead of the former Reaper. It was only right after all, that he be killed as a teacher instead of us putting down a monster. Anyway, after that our most skilled fighters will all attack Korosensei at once except for Nagisa. He would be used as our supposed secret weapon. I say supposed because he would be the distraction. If he succeeds in killing him than great, one less step but in all reality, he and I both know he doesn't want to be the one to do it. But he will put up a fight and surprise Korosensei using the clap. Korosensei will both expect it and not believe that he is actually using it considering how he already knows about it but the difference this time is that all but one of us will be performing the clap at the same time. With so many people to focus on he will be expecting Nagisa, Kayano or even Itona to make the kill move seeing as Nagisa is our best assassin, Kayano a need for revenge and Itona to prove he can do it despite the loss of his tentacles, he will not expect me.

He knows I've been ditching almost all of our P.E. classes and therefore will not be as capable as everyone else. He will believe that I would not go for the kill seeing as I might not make it but he is missing some very vital information on me. I have been preparing for that moment when I would have to make that fast kill move at the exact moment of the clap since I knew that Nagisa could successfully use it. Once again I knew what Lovro's sure-fire kill move was, after all, I was there when he showed it to Nagisa. Well, when I say I was there I actually mean lurking in the area. I would be able to make the kill shot. I would use both my knife and gun made out of the special metal that I made the cage out of.

I also made myself a pair of gloves out of the fabric. I would take no chances. Using the monster strength I had fine-tuned after my fight with grip, I would shoot him then proceed to shove the gun and my hand through his heart at the same time as I shoved my other hand and knife through his head. In case he somehow discovers my plan I have Chiba and Hayami stationed just outside the cage at a close range to shoot him with the bb guns in the head and chest a second after the clap ensuring that he is dead. The bullets don't hurt us so my arms should be ok. I carefully explained all of this to my classmates and I have to say, I was very satisfied with their reactions. I made sure that Nagisa would put out as much bloodlust as he could to distract Korosensei and so the plan was set.

Half an hour later we were in the middle of the fight. The remaining hostages were making loud noises to distract Korosensei while we worked on weakening him then suddenly we stopped. There was silence as we all advanced on Korosensei and then we dropped our weapons (I faked the drop) while Nagisa smiled sweetly up at Korosensei and _*clap* *bang* *shunk*_ I stood with my hands and weapons shoved straight through Korosensei covered in red. Korosensei's ever-present smile held a surprised tone to it. For a moment all was still, then Korosensei began to dissolve. After he melted all that was left was his head and his tie. His head fell off my arm and laid at my feet. We all stared at it for a moment before Nagisa's soft voice broke the silence.

"We should bury him"

No one spoke as we all gathered around him and buried him just outside of the school building. It was a silent affair and nobody spoke after that. Everyone just made the decision and left to go home early. We would sort everything out the next day. 

I have to say I was very shocked. I couldn't believe it. We actually killed him. He's dead, it's over, and the world is saved. And the best part of this is that I was the puppeteer that orchestrated all of it. I was still in shock as I walked down the other side of the mountain and made my way to my apartment where I lived alone.

You see my parents had been killed in a car crash when a drunk driver hit them about a year ago. Since then I had lived alone. Or at least that was the story that I told when people found out. It wasn't like they were the best parents ever, heck they were usually drunk too and my father was a druggie so it's no surprise that I turned out the way I did. I grew up in the 'hood' of Japan. Always fighting and never having someone to watch my back. Heck, I was even part of a gang at one point, but unfortunately, I had to take a hiatus for assassination. I was actually the leader of my gang and had temporarily put my lieutenant in charge. I wonder how my gang has been doing without me. We are the best of the best, the rulers of the underground world.

We ran a hangout that worked like a karaoke bar but we didn't just sell alcohol and sing, we sold drugs, did tattoos and had fights. We were the kings of the underground world and it's about time that I took back my post as Overlord. I smiled as I slipped on my clothes. I wore a pair of black ripped jeans and black and red high-top converse. I had on a silver belt that doubled as a whip. I wore a pair of black fingerless gloves made out of the anti-sensei fabric that was sort of like a protective mesh. I wore a tight black jacket type shirt that zipped up diagonally and had a baggy hood attached to it, and it had no sleeves. It had a high collar that snugly covered my neck.  It showed off my toned arms and tattoo that showed my status as the Overlord of the Tricksters, my gang.

It was a black hole that faded out in swirls with 2 red slitted eyes in the center as if a demon was looking out from hell. A very sinister marking. The color of the eyes showed the rank and I had developed an ink that would change color upon my command, in case I had to... promote anyone because of lack of members. I bet you're also wondering how I kept it hidden during that time in the pool well it is simple really. It's called waterproof makeup and me not being in the water too long. I hid my involvement with the gang from everyone, even Korosensei and Nagisa never found out. I had gotten very good at lying.

I quickly slipped on my silver bracelets that let out an electric pulse whenever I willed it to (widows bite) and slipped some knives onto different places in my outfit in case I needed some weapons. I also slipped a gun loaded with, you guessed; it real bullets, into my waistband. Finally satisfied with my clothes, I put on some black liquid liner and made my way outside. I had my hood up so if I ran into anyone they wouldn’t recognize me right away by my blood red hair.

I quickly made my way down a couple alleyways until I found the guard. I flashed him my tattoo and he immediately let me in. I made my way down into the sewer system until I finally found the cavern area. We had re-routed the sewer system when we found it and eventually created the club like hangout we now call Purgatory. Purgatory is known by the locals and is very popular with students and other gangs. We were a neutral ground for other gangs to make negotiations and for other dealers. The dealers, of course, gave us royalties, especially considering they get a very good amount of customers here, and the gangs simply take their fights across town so that the police never catch on. As far as the police know Purgatory is a myth.

We like our secrecy, after all, we wouldn't want to get arrested. I was actually one of the youngest in the gang but I was still very much respected as one of the best. No one ever challenged my authority because I built the gang from the ground to where it stays as one of the most elite gangs in Japan today. My gang takes in anyone I deem worthy or who has a valuable skill. We choose our members wisely and because of our skill, we are all on equal ground so there is never any in gang fights unless we are sparring. One reason I was able to get the drop on Korosensei that first day was because of the training that the Tricksters upper circle gave me. The upper circle actually consisted of assassins. The Reaper had actually been my subordinate for a time. But seeing as he had been caught by the feds, he would be stripped of his status.

Those 3 assassins that we met at the hotel on our vacation actually are in the upper circle and were responsible for a good portion of my early stages of training. I was, after all, a more powerful man than the Reaper, I had to have the skill to prove it. I held the entire underworld of Japan in the palm of my hands. Ah, the pros of being the Overlord. 

I quickly made my way through the crowd completely unnoticed by everyone. I made my way backstage where the performers waited until their set performance times. In between those times was when we invited anyone from the crowd to sing. If no one came up we supplied some basic club music.

I slipped through the doors till I made it to a back room where I, or in this case my lieutenant ran all the deals and business. I waltzed in and stood in front of the desk where my lieutenant sat. His name was Kyoya Otori. You wouldn't think that he would be a member of a gang because of his family, but here he was second in command a very valuable asset. We cared for each other greatly and we thought of each other as brothers. He tutored me and helped me become the genius that I am today. In exchange, I gave him power and a place to call home where he could be whoever he wanted to be and be accepted and respected.

He used his family’s resources and control over the police to help in hiding Purgatory from all unwanted eyes. 

He quickly stood up and greeted me with a warm hug. I laughed and hugged him back and said "nice to see you to Nii-san" He smiled down at me and invited me to sit down in the second chair. "How are you doing Karma-kun?" he asked politely. I smiled a genuine smile and replied with "well I just saved the world and all, but no problem. The only issue is deciding what high school I should go to."

Kyoya's eyes widened behind his glasses before he hid it with the glare of his glasses. "What do you mean Otouto? Are you injured?" he said in a dark voice. I blinked innocently up at him. 

"Well I finally killed the monster that blew up the moon." His eyes shown with recognition. Since his father was a very important man to the governments worldwide, he was made aware of the threat and by extension, so was Kyoya. I could tell by the light in his eyes he was very impressed with me. But then his eyes went serious. 

"You could always go to Ouran Academy," he said, "I'm sure you could get in by scholarship like Haruhi."  (I knew all about his little host club)  I thought about it but I didn't think I would want such a mundane school life and to be honest, I don't want to deal with the Host Club.

While it was true that I could probably get into any school I wanted on full scholarship, I was thinking about going to True Cross. I had been digging throughout the underground and found some rumors about the school. It was said that the cram school actually trained you to fight and banish demons. Yeah, I know about demons. We don't just have assassins in our gang, I had gathered some exorcists as well. I had been attacked by a possessed man a couple years back and I was saved by a man who called himself a 'knight.'  He explained what demons were and gave me some books on demons. So like with any new thing in my world, I studied all I could about demons and their world.

I was fascinated by the demons and kept a few exorcists amongst my gang in case there was something that I or my assassins couldn't handle. I wished to protect what I called mine after all, and I heard that demons could be very... destructive. I couldn't have that. I grinned, I couldn't wait to actually become an exorcist, and there was only so much I could learn from textbooks. 

I had just finished catching Kyoya up on all that happened in my year of hiatus when suddenly someone knocked on the door. I sat back in my high chair and yelled "come in!" Grip walked in with a grim expression.

"Karma-sama, Karasuma-san wishes to speak with you." He said in a dark way. Well, to be fair that was the only way he spoke. I nodded and responded with "let him in." It was about time that he found out who the Overlord was. Most of the high leveled military knew that we were not just a myth or even that we weren't just a club, but I guess word got out that the "Overlord" was stronger and more terrifying than the Reaper. But the military knew better than to get on our bad side, maybe they are looking to hire an assassin? No that cannot be, there isn't any monster out there as of now that required our aid. Hmm, only one way to find out, I wonder what his reaction will be to finding out that I am the Overlord.

I grin and flip my hood up. Time to play a game...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	2. The Discovery and Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Karasuma P.O.V

I sighed heavily. I had just finished talking to my superiors about how Karma had killed the octopus. Well it was really the entire class so the bounty would be split between all of the students but the killing blow was landed by Karma. I had to admit I was glad that the government didn't have to step in.... I honestly wanted it to be one of the students and not some hired assassin. I was proud of my students, they actually managed to accomplish the impossible. I would never again doubt the abilities of students. Their drive is unmatched in the adult world.

Since the monster had been dealt with, I would be able to return to my actual job. I was working with the military on orders. They needed someone who could actually fight. The real military were weak like Takaoka. I, on the other hand, was capable of fighting with other weapons, not just a gun or hand to hand. I came from a different world than even Ms. Jelavich. I worked with an organization called the Vatican. 

You ever heard of demons? Well they are real and the Vatican is like the government that rules the society of exorcists. We decide which exorcists are needed when the real government needs us. A good example is that damned octopus. They called us in thinking that it was a high level demon. The government is well aware of the existence and the thing is we work like a branch of the government, yet we aren't exactly government members. It's a complicated relationship. I work as the ambassador for the Vatican and that is another reason that I was chosen to help the students.

I enjoyed it quite a bit actually, maybe I would consider taking up a teaching position at True Cross Academy as the cram school's P.E. teacher. If I can deal with that god awful octopus then I can deal with a demon king principal. He can't possibly be more annoying than him. As I was thinking about all of this I got a text from the Vatican.

_Go to Purgatory and speak with the Overlord. We require his help in finding the second son of Satan, we have included a picture of the child from when he was given to a foster family at age 6._

I looked at the text in confusion. Because I could only think of one person after seeing the photo. The kid looked just like the Karma as a child. One indication was the red hair and devious troublemaker smile, but that octopus had given the students an assignment to write an auto-biography with pictures from their childhood. Karma only had pictures from after age 6. He claimed to not remember a time before he was fostered by a couple. That couple had been acceptable to the government upon first inspection but quickly took a turn for the worst and turned to drugs and alcohol because Karma had been a troubled child - or so he says.

Now knowing who his father is, I am not surprised at all that he was able to kill that monster. Such inhuman strength that he could pierce straight through its chest with a blunt gun and a rubber knife. A lot of his mannerisms made sense now, such as his cruel nature and physical strength. Despite learning who his father was, I couldn't bring myself to hate him. Sure his biological father had killed a lot of people, but Karma was his own person and he had just saved the world.  So I replied to the text;

_I know who the kid is... Do you still require me to visit this Overlord?_

I was unsure of what to do. I had heard of the Overlord that lead the famous gang the Tricksters and supposedly runs the bar/club Purgatory. If what my superiors in the Vatican say is true, then the Overlord really resides in the nightclub that is popular with the students from all around Japan. It is quite the attraction but somehow always evaded the police. All those who had been there were very secretive of the location, but luckily my superiors had included the coordinates and how to get in. Apparently they already knew about the world of demons.

_Alright then... go anyway see if they can send help to deal with the sons of Satan. We could use the back up. The one that we have been keeping track of has graduated and is now an exorcist. He teaches at True Cross Academy's cram school and is going to be a first year in high school. See if the Overlord will offer aid and then find a way to break the news to the spawn you know of. He will need to become an exorcist if he wants to live, be sure to make that very clear._

I groaned. I did not want to have to deal with a man that was supposedly more powerful than even the Reaper was. I suppose he would be known as the new Reaper. Great, he probably knows about that octopus so I would also have to inform him about his death. I sighed heavily as I finally made it to my small apartment that I had been staying in when I had been teaching. I quickly took off my suit and then dug through my closet and unearthed my exorcist’s uniform. It was the standard black exorcist trench coat with a silver lining. I had a sword strapped to my waist and a cross attached to a chain around my neck. I had double meistered as a Knight and Aria. I was pretty good with a gun but I didn't fight as a Dragoon.

Once I had gotten my outfit in order, I left my apartment, and headed towards the location that the Vatican sent me. I arrived and an old cobblestone road that was lined with old abandoned buildings that had protective symbols spray painted along them. To the untrained eye it would look as if it was just some satanic graffiti. It was mixed in with some other basic graffiti that you would find in just about every other graffiti-covered alley way. I kept walking until I came upon a darker looking alley. As I turned down into it, I saw the symbol I was looking for. It was a big black abyss with some darkness swirling outwards, the longest of these trails reached the entrance of the alley way and in the center of the darkness were 2 red demonic eyes. I came to a stop in front of the symbol and a man stepped out of nowhere.

I recognized him from the assassination attempt that had been made in the summer, he was the one Karma fought. He glared at me as if waiting for me to speak. "I need to speak with the Overlord on behalf of the Vatican." I said in my usual business monotone. He looked me up and down to see if I was serious then nodded and said in a quiet voice "follow me." His accent a bit heavier than when we first encountered him. He led me down a series of sewer passages before finally stopping in front of a door. He made a motion telling me to wait while he went and talked to whoever was in the room. I could only assume that it was the Overlord. He came back out a minute later and held the door open for me. I took a breath and then walked in.

 

* * *

 

Karma  P.O.V

Karasuma-sensei walked in and I couldn't help but smirk evilly. From this angle all you could see was my mouth and nose from under my hood, my cat like fangs glinted in the dim light. I couldn't wait to reveal my identity, but I could say that I was surprised to find that Karasuma-sensei was not government but Vatican. Who would have thought, but it did make sense considering his ability with weapons other than guns. 

"Good evening Overlord-san. I am here on behalf of the Vatican." Karasuma-sensei said as he bowed. I chuckled lightly and flipped down my hood. 

"Well Sensei, there is no need to greet me so formally after all it's just me. He looked up at me with wide eyes. I motioned towards the extra chair in the room and he sat down heavily in it.

"K-Karma?! You are the leader of the gang?!" he asked in shock. Making an annoyed face he continued, "Well I can't say that it's unbelievable. It now makes sense that you wanted to be in a high position in the government." He sighed and rubbed his forehead, "well it would appear I no longer have to deliver the news that that dammed octopus has been killed." I smirk cheekily at him. He sighs at my antics. 'The reward money will be distributed tomorrow at class. Anyway, onto more important matters" Karasuma-sensei said, somehow managing to turn even more serious. He'd only reached this level of seriousness when we were threatened so I got worried.

“I know you are well aware of the world of exorcists, but there is something very important that you need to know... about your real parents. Your mother died in childbirth, giving birth to twins" I felt a jolt run through my body. No way, I had a twin!!! "More importantly is who your biological father is. You read up on Gehenna right? Well your father is Satan." Karasuma-sensei said. I couldn't believe it, no way was that all true! I was the son of Satan!? It was pretty unbelievable.... but it explained a lot of events in my life. Why I was so sadistic, why I have such inhuman strength and even my appearance is slightly demonic, with the sharp teeth and slightly pointed ears. I was always called demon spawn by all the bullies after I had beaten them up. And wasn't that what that damned teacher had called me after he betrayed me?

But now what do I do? This doesn't change much to be honest but oh, it looks like Karasuma-sensei is speaking again. "Well I don't believe that the Vatican knew that you were the Overlord or I am sure they would not have me tell you this but they wish to tell you that you must become an exorcist or they will kill you." I chuckled at the absurdity of that. As if, I am better than the Reaper ever was and I was able to beat the un-killable monster. Like they could ever kill me. Karasuma smiled slightly at my reaction "I'll be sure to inform them of their mistake" He said in a slight joking matter. "They also told me to ask you for aid in dealing with the sons of Satan but seeing as you are one of them the situation might have changed." I processed all the information.

Hmm, I had studied all the books on demon lore, and I should be physically capable of being an exorcist considering Karasuma-sensei trained me to kill a Mach 20 monster. I should be able to take down demons as well, I had been street fighting too, so my hand to hand was pretty good and I had learned how to wield a sword on a dare I had received from an exorcist previously. (He didn't think I was capable of fighting like an exorcist and I proved him wrong. Since I won the bet he taught me all he knows about healing, so I could probably triple or even quadruple meister as a Knight, Dragoon, Doctor and Aria.)

I told Karasuma-sensei all of this and then asked if I could take the exorcist test. He seemed a little apprehensive about it but agreed to talk to his superiors for me. I smiled and invited him to do so at the moment. He sighed at my impatience but pulled out his phone and texted them anyways. After a couple minutes of tense silence he looked back up from his phone and announced "You will take the test after you finish classes tomorrow, you will simply leave with me after school. If you pass the test you will be required to take some training on how to control you demonic powers (it is suspected that you might have inherited Stan's famous blue flames) until your sensei deems you controlled enough."

"You will then attend True Cross because you still need a high school education (which you should pass with ease considering your grades and what your middle school put you through) and its cram school as an undercover agent to both help the other trainees and watch over your brother. As of now, he hasn't shown any demonic powers and we were informed that he was indeed born human, but he should have some of the basic demonic side effects such as heightened senses and inhuman strength."

I nodded. Seemed fair enough. I had no doubt in my mind that I would pass this exam and probably finish my training within the break before school. This should be easy. After agreeing to his terms, he left with a quiet "see you in class tomorrow" and then it was silent. 

I sighed heavily and leaned back in my chair. Despite my intellect I had to say that this was a lot to take in. I looked over at Kyoya to see him scribbling furiously in one of his many black notebooks, probably taking down all the info he had received tonight both from me and Karasuma-sensei. After couple minutes my alarm went off, telling me I had to head back to my apartment if I wanted to get at least 4 hours of sleep. Wow it was 2 A.M already? I had to wake up at 6 if I wanted to make it up the mountain in time.

Ugh, how does Kyoya pull all-nighters? I am honestly so grateful for the inner circle. I stand up quietly and tell Kyoya that I would be going but I would be back after my exam tomorrow night. He nodded, just a small jerk of the head as he was still writing.  I silently made my way back home from the club and crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow.

 

* * *

 

I woke up to the annoying beeping of my alarm. Ugh, time to get up and start a new day.... yay... I groaned and quickly got up and did my morning routine, then made myself and Nagisa a bento for breakfast. We always walked together up the mountain. He was waiting for me at the base of the hill when I arrived. I smiled at him as I handed him his food. It was a secret that only Nagisa knew but I was a very good cook. When I handed it to him I couldn't help but notice that he was holding a medium sized bag at his side, he never carries anything other than his backpack when coming to school unless it is a special occasion. I wonder what else he is bringing up the mountain instead of just his books.

We ate our bentos as we made our way up the mountain in silence. I wondered what we would do today. Our teacher was dead and the ending ceremony (where all the underclassmen get to say goodbye to the graduating students and they also find out which class they will be moving up or down into, though some of them will stay in the same class) had already happened. It is rather odd to think that many more generations will come to the E class building and see Korosensei's grave, not even knowing why it is there in the first place... an unmarked grave. They will probably have a small bit of hope because of our accomplishments... but they won't have a good enough teacher to make it. Things will go back to the way it has always been.

I wonder, was all we had accomplished this year for nothing? No... We learned so much more than that we are capable of doing just as well as the A class or the chosen. We learned team work and that knowledge isn't everything, everyone has a valuable skill, it's just not always obvious right away. Maybe I should reveal myself to Class E... I wonder how they would react... I probably should as they deserve to know, but I should also ask Karasuma-sensei if it is ok to reveal my lineage to them as well. If all goes to plan then it would appear I wouldn't have to worry about what we would be doing today after all.

We finally arrived only to find out that we were the last to arrive. We took our seats and waited for Karasuma-sensei to walk in. When he did I stood up and walked over to him to ask in a hushed tone if I could explain everything to them. He nodded slightly and I went back to my spot. Karasuma and Bitch-sensei stood at the front of the class and Bitch-sensei began to speak "Congratulations Class E, not only have you saved the world and become great assassins but you have also grown as both people and students. Now I know that this is a mushy speech but that octopus told me to say that if you actually had killed him so don't think of it as me saying that but as a message from your home room teacher."

"Anyway, continuing on, I think that you have all matured greatly from the naive brats you were when I first met you. I feel that I have also matured and I am... this is very hard to say, but I am grateful to you as well. I have also learned from this experience. So... thanks." she finished uncertainly. We all had to smile. After all, it was because of us that she and Karasuma-sensei had gotten together.

Karasuma-sensei was next to speak. "I am very proud of all of you. Like that octopus and Irina said, you have all matured very much.  Remember to keep your skills sharp and to not use them unless you have to. You all did very well and you all helped in this assassination so the bounty has been split equally between all of you." They then handed us some pretty fat envelopes. "Remember all that you have learned in your time in this class and become successful. I will pull some strings so that we may all meet here on the anniversary of the octopus's death every year and I expect you all to be there. Now I believe Nagisa has something to give everyone."

Nagisa then stood up taking his bag with him and began to pass out amulets on a simple ball chain. The amulets were made out of anti-Korosensei metal (How I knew you ask well I learned to identify metal after I had an accident with an exorcist. He said he needed silver but apparently I gave him the wrong kind, oops. So he gave me lessons on how to tell what type of metal things are). He must have melted a couple guns down last night. The front was yellow and had Korosensei's signature facial expression. The back was an engraved crescent moon around the circular pendant.

In the remaining area was my name and student number as well as the words Class E. I had no doubt that everyone else's was also personalized. This must have taken forever to make. After we all had said thank you to Nagisa and embarrassed him with all the compliments on the craftsmanship, Karasuma-sensei motioned for me to stand up and begin. I sighed and got ready to spill a big part of my life that I had kept secret for a long time.

I stood at the front of the class as everyone fell silent. "I am up here to tell you guys a big secret I've been keeping from all of you... even Nagisa." I said nervously. "I wasn't always Akabane Karma. For the first 6 years of my life I was Okumura Rin, until my adoptive father gave me up because he had to look after my twin. I was then adopted by a sweet couple, and by sweet I mean only in front of others. They soon showed their true colors as druggies and alcoholics who didn't every really care for me. There is a reason I turned out the way I did you know." I tried to laugh off my nervousness and only made the situation more awkward. Great.

"Anyway," I coughed as I continued. "So I naturally began a gang. I grew up in a dark area and excelled as a gang leader and soon we were a strong gang. Ever heard of the Tricksters?" I asked quietly. I saw recognition flash across my classmate’s vision. Then surprised and horror took over their expressions. I smiled sadly at them "I am their leader and I run the club Purgatory. I am sure you are familiar with it Kanzaki, after all you are one of our best performers." I laughed a little at her shocked expression. Kanzaki often came to visit Purgatory and every time she always sang. She came so often we reserved a time slot for her every Friday. She hadn't been coming this year apparently, at least up until recently.

"So with that being said, I offer to all of you, yes even you Karasuma and Bitch-sensei, a place amongst my gang. You will of course keep all other commitments like you jobs and such just with the benefits of being members of the most powerful gang in Japan. I will create a new division for you of course. And Bitch-sensei, don't be alarmed but I regularly employ assassins so I am sure you will fit right in. I will also give you work seeing as most people come to the Tricksters if they want something done." I said with confidence. "None of you have to agree, I just thought I would put it out there."

I looked at all of their faces nervously. Would they agree? I wondered. In the end they all agreed and I assigned them membership tattoos with different colored eyes (they would need to go see Sai later to get them done). A violet for basic members who did whatever we required of them and just didn't have a field that they fit into, yellow for assassins, green for fighters (they ran the fights that we organized and also participated in some), purple for performers (whenever we didn't have someone from the crowd to perform or sing they would perform and entertain the crowd), white for artists (they did graffiti and tattoos. Sometimes we even did paintings and other art pieces for clients. This was also the section I put my techies under), orange for deal makers/bar tenders/hustlers (their jobs were to win at poker and pool as well as keep the peace amongst deals and gang organization and finally mix some drinks), pink for cooks (we did run a delivery and small restaurant so we did need someone to make the food and because we were so popular we needed all the good cooks we could get) and blue for exorcists.

I smiled I was glad that they accepted me for now, but I wasn't done yet. I sighed, it had been going so well. I actually had friends that accepted me and didn't immediately assume that I was a no-good delinquent.

Well here goes nothing I guess. Time to finish my story. "I'm sorry but that's not all. I just recently found out who my birth father was. Karasuma-sensei is a member of a certain branch of the government that deals with... unnatural things. You've all heard of demons, right? Well, they are real and there are people that deal with demons called exorcists. One of the reasons that he was chosen to be sent here is because he is an exorcist that works as an ambassador for the Vatican. The Japanese government originally thought that Korosensei might have been a high-level demon but unfortunately, he wasn't otherwise Karasuma-sensei would have been able to deal with it."

"So he can confirm this, but I just felt like I should tell you and not keep anymore secrets from the people I really care about. My father is a demon, but not just any demon. No, he is their king... my father is Satan." I held my breath as I waited for my classmate’s reaction. I closed my eyes and winced. I waited for the inevitable rejection but instead I felt a small body hit me. I opened my eyes to see Kayano hugging me tightly. I smiled down at her gratefully. 

"Karma, we don't care who your birth father is because at the end of the day, you aren't him. Heck, you made the plan that saved the world, I think that more than makes up for who your father is. We all accept you no matter what." She said. I couldn't help it. I know it wasn't very manly but I fell to the floor and started to quietly cry.

All of Class E gathered around me and soon we were all crying. It had finally sunk in that it was over. We did it and we were all always going to be together. I never ever felt this happy and I have to say that I was so grateful for everyone. For everything they'd done for me and they know everything about me now and they still accept me. This must be what it feels like to have a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	3. Of Feelings and Acting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Nagisa P.O.V

I was shocked, to say the least. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Karma. I thought I at least knew just as much about him as he knew about me. He had even told me about the teacher that had betrayed him, and in exchange, I told him all about my mother.

I thought that he was just a misunderstood troublemaker with some home issues but this, this is so much worse. Not only did he have home issues but apparently he wasn't even theirs to begin with. His adoptive parents had gone all wrong with drugs and alcohol. I can't imagine that. At least my mom still treated me like a human and at least I still had a mom. Karma had none of these, instead, he had abusive adoptive parents and grew up around that environment; it's really no wonder he turned out the way he did.

It is also a shock to learn that he has a twin. I mean 2 Karma's? I think that one is more than enough. He had assured us that his twin was (apparently) nowhere near as sadistic nor physically capable as Karma, but they both shared the same birth parents only his twin was nicely kept by the priest that raised them for the first 6 years instead of being dumped in a bad environment. I couldn't help but begin to resent this priest. Why couldn't he have raised both Karma and his twin? That just isn't fair. But if he had, the world might have ended tomorrow, so maybe it was how it was supposed to have ended.

I honestly felt horrible for Karma. He went through so much and then expected us to reject him! I can't believe that he is so damaged that he thinks people will always leave him. We have to remember that he needs us too. During our time in Class E, Karma eventually warmed up to us and no longer acted aloof around us. We soon trusted him, and all of us went to him with our problems and he listened to us and gave us honest advice. I have to say that I felt guilty because I went to him about two weeks ago and complained about my mom, but he doesn't even have one.

Talk about insensitive. But now more than ever we need to be there for him. This time he is the one going through a hard time and because he is an aloof and cold bastard that cares too much so he hides behind a mask; he won't ask us to do anything because he believes he doesn't deserve it. We really have to support him. From what I've heard about the demon world from what Karasuma-sensei told us after Karma's tale, Satan is a very sore subject for most of the exorcist community. Therefore a lot of people want Karma to fail and/or wants him dead. Either way, all the exorcists and teachers will be doing their best to give Karma a hard time.

He also won't be able to tell anyone at True Cross about who his father is because if he does they will cruelly reject him, not even caring about the fact that he is a completely different person! I can't believe how prejudiced exorcists are. Ah well, the only thing that matters right now is making sure that Karma knows he does have us too. And now that we are part of his gang we will be able to see him and catch up with him anytime we want. We can help him through this.

After our little cry fest around Karma - he probably thought we were crying because it finally sunk in that we saved the world or something stupid like that, but it was because we felt so bad that Karma had to have all of this dumped on him - we discussed what Karma should do. According to Karasuma-sensei, the Vatican told Karma that he had to keep his identity hidden until the right moment because finding out that they have let the sons of Satan live will not end well. Karma couldn't keep his aloof cool attitude or else people will be suspicious of him and think something is up. Especially Yukio, his twin. We all decided that no matter what Karma does attitude-wise, he must make sure that he has the best grades possible. He made first in our school and it would be suspicious if he went from top grades of university level to being an absolute moron. That would be even more suspicious than Karma's attitude.

Bitch-sensei offered a lot of help with coming up with his cover. The only thing you hear of about your past in high school is your grades, therefore it is safe for us to come up with a fake personality for him. He would be known as Okumura Rin by all the exorcist community. He would be almost like an ikemen except that he would be rash and a hot head. He would be more vulnerable emotionally and he would smile kindly at everyone. Karma said he could pull it off and at first we didn't believe him, but then he became Okumura Rin right before our eyes. It was like he flipped a switch and was suddenly a completely different person. He was like a weird combination between Terasaka and Isogai. It was amazing that he had such amazing acting skills.

We were all amazed, and with that, we all left the school building. The school day was over but it wasn't goodbye quite yet. That is for tomorrow. Tomorrow it will seem final but at the moment, it seems like we still have all the time in the world.

 

* * *

 

Karma P.O.V

After we had finished deciding the character that I would play (I have to say my friends were very enthusiastic about creating Okumura Rin, it was almost unsettling. Well just goes to show what being assassins at our age and having our target be our teacher that taught us self-worth and so much more, has done to us. I don't think that we'll ever be able to think like normal high school students ever again. But we'll probably be able to play the part perfectly) we realized it was the end of the school day so we left. I left along with Karasuma-sensei and he took me to the Vatican's headquarters. Only the higher-ups would know about this to make sure that my identity has been kept secret.

I believe that the Vatican was secretly looking forward to this giant game of chess that would be played in the war against Satan. Oh yeah, we also came up with a motive for me when I decide to become an exorcist during the school year. It would be weird if I just wanted to be an exorcist out of the blue. I decided to become an exorcist because Satan killed my adoptive family and I just learned I had a twin brother so I went to stay with him and his family. Seems like a good enough reason. I would just lie about my abusive family and say they were very kind to me. Because 1 extra lie can't hurt and would they really believe I wanted to avenge bad parents?

When we arrived I had to say I was impressed. I was lead to a giant room with a bunch of different tests set up. I quickly scanned them and analyzed just how hard these would be to win with a record-breaking score. There was an 80 page test on a table (ooh so Nagisa was right. They definitely didn't want the son of Satan to be an exorcist, but if I succeeded they would never doubt my abilities. Up until now they had only been going on the information that was rumored about the Overlord, they had no idea if it was really true or not) and I immediately knew that this was going to be harder than I previously thought.

I would assume that the test is on my knowledge of the demon world as well as any and all info on healing. That would be for my basic exorcists test as well as the test required to become a Doctor and about 20 extra pages just to make it difficult. 

Lovely. 

Beside that was a shooting range with multiple angles and pop up targets. There was a vast amount of bullets and guns but I had on my Overlord outfit (the one I wore to the club) so I had my gun on me. That is the test to become a Dragoon and there doesn't appear to be any extra things added to make it that much harder. Hmm, they will probably give me a time limit to hit all the targets but at the same time it will be a practically impossible time limit. Just great.

After that would be a test for becoming a Knight. That is where I would get my demonic sword that has sealed my powers until now. There was a simple sheathed katana sitting on the ground in the center of a ring. I would assume they would make me fight their best 5 knights and maybe the future Paladin or something. Maybe they would make me fight Karasuma-sensei. But nope. There was no additional challenge other than the mass amount of people I would have to defeat. Oh wait, I would also have to keep control over my demonic powers without training while fighting the 5 maybe all at once. Perfect.

And finally was the test for my status as an Aria. There was a bunch of caged demons sitting around. All varying levels of course. Looks like the most difficult thing here would be just barfing up all of the fatal verses at random as they throw demons at me. Hmm, that one doesn't seem that bad. There's not much they could do to make that test harder. They must think that just because I am doing all of the other tests then I will not have been able to memorize all the fatal verses for the high-level demons they have gathered. Oh! They have some pictures of demons that have not shown up for centuries. So that's how it's going to be then. Real nice. Well this will be a fun couple of hours.

 

* * *

 

"Well that was fun," I smirked at all the exorcist that were there to oversee my exams. I had finished the 80-page test that included 6 different essays I had to write, in only about 45 minutes. I am pretty sure I broke the record for that test. Then I proceeded to shoot all the targets including the flying surprise targets in about 15 seconds. I decided to do the Aria test next, this one took a while because some of the fatal verses were ridiculously long. So that took another 30 minutes, yay. Finally, I made it to the Knight test. I was really excited for that one, I couldn't wait to see if they were anywhere near as good as my spars with the Reaper or even Karasuma-sensei.

Well, I was thoroughly disappointed with the end result. I went up against the 5 mandatory Knights and beat them all at one in less than 2 minutes. Then they made Karasuma-sensei fight me and that lasted about 10 minutes, even the next Paladin only survived about 15 minutes against me. It wasn't much fun and they were awfully slow, probably due to them being human. The best part of it was I didn't even have to unsheathe the katana to beat them. I smirked down at the exhausted men that sat around the ring. I hadn't even broken a sweat. It took the remaining Vatican members about 15 more minutes after my fights had finished to finish checking over my answers on the 80-page test and 6 essays.

I smirked at all of their awe struck facial expressions. They were very impressed with my performance. I let out a dark chuckle when they handed me back my test to reveal that I had gotten every single answer correct and that I had gotten full marks with bonus points on my essay for making a break through. I had revealed that if you combined holy water with some rose water then it creates an unbreakable barrier that keeps demons from crossing it. It even works on kings of hell. Apparently, they asked Mephisto (the principal of True Cross) to come to a meeting and they hadn't told him about the line of water they had painted underneath the doorway and he was unable to enter the room and had no idea why. The only thing was I knew a way to bypass the barrier. Of course, I told them there was a way, I just didn't tell them how.

After all what if they tried to use it on me? I had to have a way to get around on it. When I was a kid (about 9 years old) my adoptive parents forgot me at an art museum and let's just say it didn't end well. Somehow I ended up getting trapped in a world where the artist’s paintings had come to life and my life was tied to that of a rose. That was the only way you could bypass the protective rose and holy water barrier. Your life had to have been connected to that of a rose. My rose had been that of a lovely red. I still remember my time in that awful world. I had found another man there and he protected me by giving up his blue rose in place of my red to a horrid painting that had wanted to keep me all to herself.

She killed him but I had managed to bring him back with me somewhat. I had kept his lighter that he had given me before he died. It oddly enough had a beautiful G engraved on it surrounded by roses. Blue roses. The lighter never ran out of the lighter fluid and released a beautiful blue flame, the color of his rose; not Satan's flames. Those were more a light blue, but Garry had had a beautiful royal blue rose. Every year on the anniversary of the day I got back I made sure to buy a blue rose and burn it for him.

I was so glad that I hadn't forgotten him and my experience. I sighed, I can't believe I let my memories get the better of me. Garry is gone, but I can't find it in my heart to let go. I missed my violet haired scared cat friend. So anyway, I had burned the painting that had trapped me in that awful world so no one but me could pass through the barrier (or at least I had tried to). Oh and because of that, I can't be possessed either, so no worries there. 

I made sure I could also take down the barrier but only I could. Once again, the only way to break it was related to a rose. I had to burn a yellow rose with the lighter (like what I did to Mary, my first act of revenge and bloodlust. I would never be able to forgive her for what she had done to Garry) to break the barrier. But only I had access to the royal blue flames that belonged to Garry's lighter. I asked everyone I could to see if they could light the lighter but they had been unable to. It seems Garry had helped me once again.

Wow, now I feel depressed I should probably stop thinking about..... Him. Anyway, the Vatican was very shocked at how well I did. Then one man stepped out from the shadow he had been hiding in. I think he was trying to be mysterious but it didn't really work considering I knew where he was the entire time. 

"That was certainly very interesting Akabane-san. I am very happy to welcome you amongst the exorcists. I would like to offer you a position. Would you like to become the next Paladin young man?" He said in a clear voice. He looked to be around mid-30’s and wore the standard priest uniform. So this was the man who led the Vatican. He didn't look like much and I have no doubt that the former future Paladin was more of a challenge than he would ever be. I, of course, would accept this opportunity. Purely a strategic move, I would need the respect of my position, otherwise the Vatican and the former future Paladin would no doubt cause me trouble especially after beating him.

"I accept your gracious offer," I say with a grin that held a bit of my troublemaker mischief. He nodded at me and poured a weird liquid over my forearm. It burned briefly and then a mark appeared on my arm. It was a devil's trap with a blue flame (the light blue kind like my Satan's flame) Wow the irony. The Vatican man nodded at me and said: "congratulations Akabane-san you will now be recognized as the Paladin as soon as you show anyone this symbol." 

I nodded and smiled. Mission accomplished. I was just about to leave when I suddenly remembered. I picked up the sheathed katana and unsheathed it. Suddenly I burst into flames and my demonic features grew more pronounced.

My ears grew longer and more pointed. My teeth grew even longer and I grew a long thin black tail with very short fur and a swirled fluffy tip. My muscles believe it or not somehow got even more defined and I got an 8 pack instead of my 6 pack. To put it simply I was ripped but I still kept my thin lean form. I smiled and willed my fire to stop. The fire slowly went out and I stood holding a black sheath and my new katana. Like my physical appearance the katana also changed. When I had first unsheathed it, it had been a plane silver with a basic black handle and guard. Now the blade was black with smoke swirls that crawled up the blade and were Satanic flame blue. The handle was a combination between black leather and some crimson red strips intertwined and braided in. The sheath had red flames crawling up the black color and it was attached to a belt that I attached so it rested diagonally across my back.

I sheathed the sword and then turned to the Vatican members that were still gawking at me. "Oh, and who pray tell, will help me with my powers? As far as I know you do not house any half demons other than my... brother and I. Oh and speaking of him, we will keep my name as well as my status between us. My trainer will know nothing about me other than who my father is and no one else including my brother will know about my past. I will be known as Okumura Rin the smart ikemen with a hot head who wants to kill Satan because he killed my adoptive parents from now on. Am I clear?" I asked with a sickening smile on my face. 

The Vatican man looked taken back by my tone and smile but nodded anyway and responded with "Of course, Okumura-san, as you wish. Your instructors name is Kirigakure Shura. She will meet you outside of your school after graduation."

I winced in irritation. I would just have to tell my friends to call me Okumura Rin tomorrow. Lovely. Well they'll need to get used to it in case they ever ran into someone from my new life. This would also be a setback. Looks like tonight I would have to ink up the rest of my arm so that both my gang tattoo and Paladin tattoo were hidden at first glance. I could wear arm braces to cover them up better but I would ink up the rest of my arm in case they ever saw my other tattoos and questioned why I only had 2. Much less suspicious to have a sleeve done. I smirked and began to walk away in a calm relaxed predator like gait. "See you tomorrow, Karasuma-sensei!" I casually threw over my shoulder in a mocking tone. I smiled myself. My acting gig begins tomorrow. Let the fun begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	4. A New Point of View

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Garry P.O.V

I floated along after my sweet little Karma. He had been such a sweet and innocent child. I am forever grateful that I was able to meet him, even if the setting had not been a good one. After he had got back, I found myself outside. I tried to hug little Karma after but I fell right through him. I knew then that I was dead and there was nothing I could do about it. So like a good friend, I followed little Karma as he sullenly walked out of the gallery. The poor kid had just burned Mary's painting and experienced pure bloodlust for the first time. I expected him to be shaken up. Poor little guy. But then he had stopped and ran back to the Fabricated World painting. He glared at it with such hate.

He pulled out the lighter that I had given him before I was killed by Mary. He lit it and instead of the orange flame I had expected a deep royal blue flame burst forth. He lit the painting on fire and I could only be glad that it was the middle of the night and there was no security guards around. He smiled sadly at the lighter and let tears spill down his face. He had looked at the painting one last time before he turned and walked away whispering "I'm sorry Garry."

I tried to tell him that it was ok, that I didn't blame him at all for attempting to torch that stupid painting but he couldn't hear me at all. I watched over him as he grew up. He kept the lighter with him always and never let it out of his sight. He polished my lighter quite frequently as well. It was cute how he took such great care of it. 

As he got older he changed from that sweet innocent little child that just couldn't understand why the priest had given him up and why his adoptive daddy hit him all the time. He created a gang and I almost had a panic attack. He rose to power and soon he held all of Japan in the palm of his little hand. My sweet sweet, little Karma was being buried underneath all of the harsh scars the world gave him. Then finally his parents bit the bullet and I honestly couldn't be happier.

He had been very successful at Kunugikaoka junior high for some time before he was suddenly kicked down to Class E not because he wasn't able to deal with the pressures of Class A. No, he got kicked down because he stood up for another student. Despite his new position as a gang leader he still held such compassion. My sweet little Karma was still in there, not yet completely buried. I saw hope. Maybe the Class E teacher won't think that he is a lost cause with too much attitude.

It turned out that Class E was even worse than I imagined. How could they think that it was a good idea to let children be in charge of the fate of the world?! How could they even think of handing children weapons?! They're just children!!! It was so wrong of them. I silently fretted over my precious Karma. I cried on the inside as my little Karma fell even farther away under the new scars being an assassin brought. It was horrible how they had to kill their own teacher.

I always regretted letting Karma bear the weight of killing Mary, but she was a painting. Their teacher is just that, a teacher. He taught them self-esteem and how to wield a second knife so that they could survive in the harsh world. He made sure that they would all be ok without him. He had no idea that Karma was the infamous Overlord though. I still can't believe he got a tattoo, he's still too young. But to make matters worse the students grew to like that octopus. They even tried to save him and now they were the ones to kill him.

To be fair, Karma landed the killing blow, but they all held some part in the assassination attempt. I couldn't believe how fast these junior high students transformed into killers. I'm glad that little blue haired boy that Karma seems rather fond of told them to bury their teacher. After all, it was the least they could do in return for all the aid that Korosensei had given them. I felt so bad for all of them because they can't even realize that their innocence is now and forever gone.

They almost got killed so many times and they had to kill as well. You don't just walk away from that normal. You also can't just walk away after losing someone precious completely intact. It's awful and there will forever be a hole in your heart where they had been. And there's no going back because death is final. 

I watched after as Karma was informed of his birth father. I had to say I was shocked. How could he deal with all that pain and shock so easily? Oh yeah, because he has known pain for so long.

It all started with my death and I have a pretty strong feeling it won't end here. He accepted that and revealed the truth to Class E. I was so glad that they accepted them. Karma deserved friends that he could count on. I'm so proud that he now has a family that can take care of him. He needs them more than he will ever know. After, he went and did that blasted exorcists exam. He was totally set up by the Vatican. There was no way he would be able to complete all of that.

But somehow Karma beat the odds and came out on top. He truly is magnificent. I heard his thoughts as he was looking over his essays. He was thinking about me again. I felt guilty once more. I left him alone and for that I will never forgive myself. I was so touched every time he burned a blue rose for me. It was a reminder that he still missed me. It was nice to think that at least one person remembered my existence and cared that I was gone.

Then my little baby became Paladin and I felt like a proud boyfriend seeing him graduate from high school or something. The only problem I had was he got yet another tattoo. Really Karma you are still too young to be permanently inking your skin. Ah well, there is nothing I can do about it. I sighed as I followed him back to Purgatory. He slipped into the tunnels and came to a different part of the club.

He hadn't been here in a while, I wonder what he was doing in the tattoo parlor of Purgatory then I realized that he was here to get yet another tattoo. Unbelievable, did he want to appear like a delinquent?! He sat down in the chair and started talking with the tattoo artist that he trusted. His name was Sai and I have to say I am very impressed with his work. He truly was the best artist in all of Japan.

As he chatted with Sai I tried to sneak a peek at what Karma was going to get on his arm. But I couldn't see around Sai. So I sat and waited patiently sitting beside Karma as he got it done. I gave him credit he didn't flinch at all when he got the sleeve inked at all. He just sat through it all, quietly discussing how human interactions were weird.

Sai was an amazingly talented artist but he was definitely a weird one. He just didn't seem to understand emotion at all. After about an hour Karma was finally done. 

Because the Tricksters were at the height of all the new tech out there, the ink didn't need a time to set in his skin. Instead it just set as soon as it was inked. I finally got to look at what he got and I was so shocked. The sleeve he got was truly impressive. No way could that have been done in just an hour.

It was a beautiful collection of roses. Starting out a deep blood red from the top of his shoulder and around the gang mark leaving it still visible and the center of attention in the sleeve. They curled all around his arm and soon royal blue roses started being intermingled amongst the red at around his elbow til they curved around his Paladin tattoo. Once again that was still the star of the show but the roses went perfectly around the original tattoos. Eventually the roses tapered off into vines that curled around his wrist. At the base of his wrist was the words 'Fabricated World'.

The tattoo was truly breath taking. There was no other way you could possibly describe it. He thanked Sai and tipped him for a job well done then he headed out to his apartment. He began the task of packing everything he needed and making sure that all the things that could alert people that he wasn't all he seemed were at Purgatory. He then pulled out the remaining sheet of anti-sensei metal that he had. He cut it with his katana that was apparently named Kurikara and made 2 arm bands out of it. They were wide enough that they completely covered his Paladin and Trickster tattoos. They fit snugly and there was no way you could accidentally take them off. Karma also placed a charm on them to make sure that they only came off when he touched the metal with the flame from my lighter.

There was still some metal left so he set about making a cross out of the metal. I suppose it would work as a headstone for his teacher. After all that, he had finally finished that he fell asleep. He would need it. I heard that he would have training tomorrow after he graduated. Then he only had a short break to get to know his twin and get comfortable in playing the role of Okumura Rin.

 

* * *

 

Karma P.O.V

I woke up the next day and put on my uniform. The sleeves just covered my tattoo sleeve so I don't think that anyone will notice. I also put the metal cross that I had made the night before in my backpack and added an extra bottle of holy rose water just to be safe. I always had a knife or two and a gun stashed on my person but this time I also attached Kurikara to my back. Just in case, I had my trusty lighter in my pocket where it would be safe.

I made my way up the mountain as usual. It was kind of sad you know, how we will all be going our separate ways. But at least we would all be able to meet up at Korosensei's grave every year. I smiled to myself as I made it up to the school. As usual for the past couple of days we all just sat outside around Korosensei's grave. I knelt in front of it and stabbed the cross into the ground above where he was buried. Then I pulled out my holy rose water and spilled a little barrier around the grave and on the cross.

Going off on a whim I pulled out my lighter and lit the holy rose water on fire. Because of the rose water added to it, the fire never went out. It was a very interesting discovery. The fire was calm and held warmth and soon we all gathered around it seeking warmth in the cool air. Sitting around it we were silent as we said our final goodbyes to our teacher. After that sullen affair I told my friends how everything went yesterday. Then I told them about my new teacher that would be teaching me how to use my powers (how I still had no idea, I mean she doesn't have powers) and to call me Okumura Rin because she doesn't know anything about who I really am.

Luckily they understood and I quickly sunk into the character of Okumura Rin. By the time the day was over everyone was used to Okumura Rin and it was like he had always been a part of the class. Waving a final good bye to the other students I made my way down the mountain with Karasuma and Bitch-sensei. They would hand me over to Shura and send me off. I had a feeling that I would see Karasuma-sensei again and by extension Bitch-sensei. Maybe Karasuma-sensei would want to teach at the cram school along with Yukio. Nah, I think he has learned from this experience that students are troublesome.

We reached the base of the hill and made our way over to the gate at the entrance to the real school. There stood an extravagant woman who wore tiny shorts and a tiny red bikini top. I was kind of miffed. Who shows up at a junior high school to teach a male student like that? It was completely unreasonable. I mean what if she got injured? Her outfit offered no protection what so ever. Ridiculous.

We made our way over and then both Karasuma and Bitch-sensei gave me hugs. Bitch-sensei played the part of loving mom who was sending her kid off to a boot camp or something. It took a couple minutes to pry her off and then I was alone with my new teacher. I didn't like her much because she smelled of alcohol. No fond memories of that substance, but Rin wasn't supposed to have any problems with alcohol so I simply bowed and introduced myself. "Hello, my name is Okumura Rin. It is a pleasure to meet you Sensei." I stood up from my bow to see her reaction.

She looked me up and down as if analyzing me and I had to say at the moment I didn't look like much. I had hidden all malice from my appearance and I had to say looked about as threatening as Nagisa does when he pouts. So, not menacing at all. I smiled up at her and invited her to come to my apartment where we could work away from prying eyes. She gave me a look of shock before grumbling "of course the brat wouldn't be uncomfortable by my boob show if he had to deal with her for a teacher," then a little louder, "sure kid lead the way."

True to my role I suddenly got tick marks above my head and growled out "don't call me kid." I bet it still looked non-threatening as I still didn't put any bloodlust into it. We walked back and soon made it into my spotless apartment. I sat down on the floor and invited her to do so as well. She pulled some candles out of nowhere and told me to start trying to light them and make them different heights and extinguish them at different times. In other words some basic control exercises. Great, this is a fun way to start off the training sessions. I could tell that she didn't want to be there in the first place so the sooner I mastered this the sooner I would be able to move in with that priest and Yukio. I invited her to look around if she so wished, before I began to practice.

 

* * *

 

 

Shura P.O.V

I was waiting around the gate of the school expecting this genius kid I was supposed to teach to come from the main building. After all, he was number 1 in the school so he had to be in Class A right? Wrong. I saw my charge (I was given a picture of the kid) walking with Karasuma Tadaomi and some big boobed skank that must be together with Karasuma considering that his arm was around her waist. I'm going to be honest here, that kid didn't look like much. Even Yukio looked more frightening than that! And the kid looked like a kicked puppy on a good day!

How could a half-demon look so non-threatening? It was so odd and he didn't even seem fazed at all by my attire. He politely introduced himself and even invited me back to his apartment. I grumbled about him not even being fazed by my boobs and then said: "let's go, kid," or something and he freaked out in that adorable way that little boys do. It still wasn't scary and I had to say it was quite cute when he growled at me to not call him a kid.

We made it to his apartment and I had to say I was impressed with how clean it was especially considering he lives alone. I heard that Satan had killed the kid’s adoptive parents and I had to say that even if I wasn't sure I like him, I felt bad for him. It wasn't his fault that he was the son of Satan and therefore his target. Poor innocent humans too. I heard he was real broken up about it and wanted to have revenge. That was a dangerous path to go down but a good motivation. If I am right and this kid really is bright then I won't have to teach him a lot. The most I would probably have to do is give him the candle exercises and when he can summon the fire while his sword is sheathed and be able to not summon the flames while the sword is unsheathed. Then I would say he is in control.

After I told him to practice with some candles he told me I could wander around the apartment. He had previously lead me into the sitting room where he kept a small coffee table and a couch. On the little coffee table was a vase that held 2 roses. A beautiful blood red rose and a royal blue rose. Hmm, a weird centerpiece for a boys apartment.

Well, it was weird for a teenage boy to have a centerpiece at all.

On the wall was a single canvas painting, which looked as if it had been painted with a lot of care. It was reminiscent of Guertena's work but at the same time you could tell someone painted it with more personal emotion. Like this person had been alive before. The painting was of a young man probably about 18 years old. He had violet hair with 3 dark curly pieces and the top of his head, like an upside-down rose. The hair covered one of his eyes but the one that was visible was closed. He wore a green tank top and some beige pants. Over it he had a navy long coat with ragged edges. He was slumped in what looked like a dark hallway as if he was asleep.

Beside his fallen hand was a single rose stem plucked of all its petals. All the petals of a beautiful deep blue lay on the ground around the man. It would have been a peaceful painting had it not been for the fire that was creeping around the edges of the painting. It was such a dark painting too. Underneath the painting sat a pile of sketches of the same man. Most of the time he was alive and well with the blue rose completely intact. Sometimes he was with a little red-haired boy. The boy looked a lot like Rin. Hmm, I wonder....

In other sketches, it showed the man with a bunch of demonic dolls silently crying. Other time he was running down a hallway being chased by what appears to be a woman crawling out of a painting and clawing her way down the hall. Then there was a sketch of the man holding hands with the boy and with a little blonde girl that held a yellow rose. There was a picture of the girl holding a red rose and saying "but I like blue better." The next picture was the little red-haired boy kneeling next to the man saying "Garry why are you asleep?" I had to say my heart broke at that picture. Who knew the kid had an artistic ability?

There were only two more drawings left in the stack that I was looking at. The first was of the blonde girl she had a crazed look in her eyes and they were bleeding. She looked completely insane as she said "now you can stay with me forever," while she ripped the blue petals from a rose. And the last one was simply a yellow rose burning with a blue flame with the words "Mary... Why?" I think I can piece together what happened now.

Maybe his adoptive parents weren't killed recently. Maybe they were killed when he was a little kid. The man, Garry I think, and the girl, Mary, look like they could all be siblings. (Well not really in appearance but their bone structure was similar enough) What if they are and Satan possessed Mary and killed his family then because Mary wasn't strong enough of a vessel she burned up?! That is so awful. Though I did find it rather poetic how he made the colored roses represent life. 

I sighed poor kid had to see his family roasted by Satan who was possessing his sister. Something so traumatic doesn't leave you easily. No wonder he wants revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	5. Meeting the Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds  
> Song 1: Fighting For You by Ashe  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGE24_b7M6s  
> Song 2: Ib Kagerou Days by SirHamnet  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o6_ueO6AJI

Karma/Rin P.O.V

I heard Shura snooping through all of my drawings and heard her silently drawing her own conclusions - she liked to think out loud apparently. It seems she thinks that Garry and Marry were my siblings. Just as planned. Now I have an excuse to grieve over Garry, and an excuse to hate Mary. I drew the drawing of Mary with the blood in her eyes just to help that assumption along.  But I had indeed drawn and painted all of them. At first glance, you wouldn't think that I held any love for art but I am quite the artist. I was the one to design the gang aesthetic after all.

I quite enjoy painting. It is very relaxing and I had painted so many roses over the years. When money got a bit tight I would just sell the ones I didn't much care for. The one that I would never sell was that one of Garry. It took me 4 years to finish. I started right after I got out. But it looks exactly how I remember Garry. The flames around the edges represent my burning of the Fabricated World painting, not Satan's flames. I titled that painting the Forgotten Portrait and wrote that at the back of the canvas along with my signature.

I knew I wouldn't be able to leave it at Purgatory so I signed the back in case anyone saw it. That reminds me, Garry's anniversary is coming up next week. I would have to keep that blue rose alive a bit longer wouldn't I? 

Ah, looks like Shura is finally done snooping. I called her over and demonstrated how I could perfectly control the candles. At first she was unimpressed but then she saw that the katana lay on the couch sheathed. Then I showed her I could draw the sword without giving away my secret so I could help fight around the other exorcist trainees.

She nodded at me then told me that I had graduated from her training. There wasn't much she could do now other than tell me to practice and maybe spar with me once I had become an exwire. I smiled sweetly and gladly accepted the future offer of a spar. Since it had been the last day of school I would be moving in with Yukio and the priest tomorrow. But I had no idea where they even lived. So I asked Shura. "Hey before you go, can you do me a favor? I need to know where Okumura Yukio lives. Since I am living alone, the Vatican told me I needed to live with him. He should already know but I need the address."

She smiled and then asked for a paper and pen then she wrote down the address. After that, she left. Groaning I stood up from my seat on the floor and began to pack all of my belongings. I put all of my drawings into a black notebook I had gotten from Kyoya. Sai had shown me how to transfer my drawings into a notebook and I was able to do so easily now. I removed the Forgotten Portrait from its frame and rolled it up. I put all the art supplies as well as my notebook and the rolled up painting into the small bag where I then tucked it into the end of my duffel. 

I put all my weapons into a bag along with my gear and then put that in the duffel too. After that, I packed all of the remaining clothes into the duffel. I would get my school uniform and then I would no longer need as many clothes but I didn't have that many to begin with. I had 5 outfits including my gear (stuff I wore to Purgatory. I generally use this if I am going to fight. It has everything I need in it after all.) I put an extra bag into the duffel too. It was a book bag but it had about 20 different pockets. In them, I hid some of my other weapons in. I put my laptop that I used to manage the club as well as store some work in for school in the pocket made for it. In the water bottle spot I put holy rose water (it also hurts demons if thrown at them since it was still holy water).

I also put a small first aid pack into the bag. It held anything and everything I could and would need to heal someone.  The remaining space would be used for my school books, sketchbook and a change of clothes (i.e. my gang uniform, because I would be wearing my school uniform.) I put the duffel in front of my door and then I went to bed. The next morning I packed up my toiletries and shoved those inside my duffel and set out to get to the church where Okumura Yukio lives.

I wore a simple black T-shirt and some khaki shorts with a pair of black converse. I of course now always wore my pendant that Nagisa had given me and I kept my lighter in my pocket. I also had the 2 metal bands on my arm that hid my gang and Paladin tattoos. I would never have those 3 things leave my person. I journeyed to the church while quietly humming the song that Garry used to sing to me.

It was a song called "[Fighting For You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGE24_b7M6s)" and it was very fitting for our relationship. I had grown to love Garry in the time that I had known him (despite our ages at the time), and I had not let go of my feelings. They would never go away and I don't think I would ever move on. Even now that I'm 15 years old and it's been 6 years, I still love Garry so much. Sometimes I wish he could come back to me but he is dead and it's not fair.

Soon I had made it to the church. I made sure I had not broken character then I rang the doorbell. The Vatican had told me that they had informed the priest named Father Fujimoto that I would be staying with them once again. I plastered on a smile when a priest opened the door. I barely remembered him but he was the priest that almost burned down the kitchen when he tried to cook.

His eyes widened in recognition and he grabbed me in a bear hug. Luckily, I had put my duffle down or he might have damaged my painting. When he finally released me I could see that tears were streaming down his face. "We missed you so much Rin. We never wanted to give you up but Father Fujimoto thought you needed to live a normal life." He blubbered out as he wiped his nose.

I patted his shoulder and said, "well I suppose it is good to be back, now can I come in?" He nodded vigorously then yelled into the church saying that I had arrived and to get Father Fujimoto. I mentally groaned. Great, they were going to make me explain why I came back. Maybe I could use this to my advantage. I'll just say that Mary was possessed by Satan and killed my family. They will ultimately pity me and generally leave me alone and not question my odd qualities. I was lead into the dining room where we sat all around a table.

Soon Father Fujimoto and another boy my age walked in. So this is Yukio. He looks nothing like me. He had black hair and wore glasses that gave him a nerdy appearance. He would be my teacher this year?! Unbelievable.

 

* * *

 

Yukio P.O.V

I was just discussing the arrival of my twin brother with my adoptive father Shiro Fujimoto when one of the priests ran in to tell us that he was here. I was nervous, what would he be like? I had heard that he was incredibly intelligent and got to go to Kunugikaoka junior high and was even the top student despite being in Class E. I wasn't surprised that he got into Class E because of a fight rather than because of grades.

Typical for what you'd expect of a half-demon. Now I know what you're thinking; 'Hey Yukio, aren't you the son of Satan too?' Well there you would be right but I, unlike Rin, possess no demonic powers what so ever. I was born completely human. I have to say that I wonder why he is here in the first place. Father Fujimoto told me when I was 6 that we had to let Rin leave because he couldn't handle him.

I remember that he always got into fights and was generally a very disruptive child. My complete opposite. I was much easier to deal with and flourished under the care of the priests but Rin wasn't faring as well so they sent him off to live a normal life, seeing as he had no idea what a demon even was when I had the sight since birth.

I was kind of jealous that he got to live a normal life when I had to become an exorcist. Despite the fact that I was human the Vatican still didn't like me so they required I become an exorcist otherwise they would kill me. But they were unable to locate my twin until now so they couldn't make the same threat. I'm rambling a little, aren't I?

Well anyway, I apprehensively walked out into the dining room along with Father Fujimoto to see all of the priests sitting around the table and at the head sat a boy I briefly remembered from my childhood. He had red hair and almost gold eyes. He had a small sheepish smile on his face that displayed an innocence you don't find in most people my age. Yet his smile was sad; I wonder why.

His teeth were pointed so I could tell right away that he wasn't all human. That must've been fun to grow up with. He wore a black T-shirt that clung to his lithe yet muscular form. Oh, and he had a tattoo sleeve but you couldn't see all of it because he wore 2 metal armbands. What you could see was quite a shocking tattoo for a teenage boy. It was a bunch of roses that went all the way down and around his arm. They were a deep blood red near the top of his arm and around the elbow, they seamlessly changed into a royal blue rose.

Then they tapered off into some thorny vines that wrapped around his wrist and surrounded some words at the base of his wrist that I couldn't quite make out. I wonder who would even ink up a student before they even made it to high school but I heard from some other kids that this obscure club called Purgatory would do tattoos no questions asked. In fact, you could ask for anything there and they would somehow acquire it for you no questions asked.

Many exorcists I ran into were actually members of the gang that ran the club. They weren't necessarily in the inner circles of the gang so they had never seen the leader but they shared a lot of info on what it's like. Apparently, the Tricksters can supply almost anything and it was rumored that the Overlord became the new Paladin we had all heard so much about recently. It was a recent development considering the making of the new Paladin happened less than 3 days ago.

Yet every exorcist seemed to know that the new Paladin was indeed the leader of the infamous gang. He must be incredibly powerful. I had heard that he took the exams and came out with a quadruple meister and apparently didn't even try for Tamer, but it was said he probably could have but just decided not to.

I am getting carried away here. I nodded towards the boy and said calmly, "hello Nii-san I am your twin brother Yukio. It's a pleasure to meet you. You may call me Nii-san as well." I smiled kindly down at him as I took a seat next to him. He smiled shyly at me and I couldn't help thinking he was cute. Father Fujimoto took a seat next to me and then turned to my new aniki.

"Welcome back Rin-kun," Father Fujimoto said warmly and he blushed. 

"I'd like to say it's good to be back, but under the circumstances, I don't think it's appropriate," he answered kindly. I frowned slightly. What could possibly make him think that? Father Fujimoto then decided to voice my thoughts and asked: "dear boy, what do you mean?" 

He smiled sadly at us and ducked his head "I would have thought the exorcists had told you considering your status amongst them Paladin-san." Rin said shyly but then his face became shadowed with sadness. "Well, then I guess it'd be best to tell you now rather than later. I didn't find out about this world in a... nice way. Yeah, that's how you'd put it. I'll give you the abbreviated version. One day I was coming home from school to feel something off about my small apartment. I walked into the apartment only to find my younger adopted sister covered in blood."

"She was standing above the mutilated and burned corpses of my parents. When she turned towards me I could see her holding a kitchen knife and blood was beginning to seep from her eyes. She looked utterly insane as she laughed and then burst into flames, blue flames. She said one last thing before she collapsed and the building began to catch on fire. 'I'm coming for you'. I tried to put out the fire but for some odd reason, I couldn't. It was awful. I ran out of the apartment to find some exorcists. I, of course, didn't know who they were but they were dressed like authorities and they were somehow able to stop the fire."

"I told them what happened and then they explained to me everything. I was horrified to find out the stories that I heard as a kid were real. A very rude awakening, if you will. When they had finally managed to put the fire out we went into the apartment to see if we could salvage anything. Then I salvaged what I could and I stayed over at a friend’s house until they found you."

He beamed up at us and said; "and that's how I ended up back here," he looked down nervously. "I want to become an exorcist so that maybe I can have revenge on Satan for what he did to my sister and adoptive family." he finished with a determined glint in his eyes. I frowned, that just didn't seem right you know? "Oh, and because those exorcists said they would kill me unless I proved that I could become an exorcist," he added like it was an afterthought that didn't mean much at all.

Not like it was his life he was talking about so carelessly. 

It was odd to say the least. It seemed he didn't care about his life at all. He laughed then pulled out a phone and checked the time. I had to say I had never seen that brand before. It seemed like it was homemade, yet it was so professionally done that it had to have been made by the government or something. It had no dents or scratches that you'd usually see on a teen’s phone and it looked to have very high-tech software.

There was an odd symbol on the back it looked to be like a crescent moon. I wonder where he got his hands on a piece of tech like that. 

He quickly put away the phone and turned back to us. "Well, it's getting around supper time. Do any of you mind showing me to the kitchen? I am an amazing cook and it's the least I can do to cook for all of you. After all, you are taking me in." he said kindly with a big smile.

One of the priests stood up and then led the way. As soon as they were out of earshot we started discussing the new arrival. "What do you think of him Fujimoto-san?" Said one of the newer priests. He hadn't been here more than a year yet he seemed like he belonged here. 

Father Fujimoto got a thoughtful look on his face as he thought about how to answer. "Well... He certainly is different from when I gave him away." He said finally. "Rin was a very disruptive child and loud and most of all angry. This Rin is sort of hard to believe exists. I always thought he would grow up to be a delinquent and despite his tattoos, he seems like the exact opposite of that." I pondered this then brought up the subject I was wondering the most about. 

"Hey, why do you think he got his tattoos and what do you think they mean? I mean it is rather odd for someone his age to have a full sleeve done and much less for a boy his age to have roses done."

Father Fujimoto got a contemplative look on his face. It was rather odd after all for Rin, who we knew grew up with very sweet parents and even a little sister, to get a tattoo. Why would his parents even let him get a tattoo in the first place? It didn't look new so it couldn't have been after his parents were killed. We all continued to discuss the oddity that was my twin brother when we heard Rin's voice call from the kitchen.

"I'm going to need some help carrying all the food out so some people need to help," he yelled. I sighed and went to go help with another couple priests.

 

* * *

 

Rin P.O.V

I sighed as I was lead to the kitchen. It surprisingly had a big variety of cooking utensils and ingredients. I was delighted to see what I had to work with. I got to work as soon as the priest left. Soon I was singing a little tune as I cooked up a storm. I had set my phone on the counter and had Ritsu remind me when I needed to remove things from the oven.

Speaking of Ritsu, she knew everything about me already. Ritsu was actually created by the Tricksters so I didn't have to worry about her leaking info about me to the government. She often helped me with things and I had a special earpiece made so that she can tell me things that I had missed. She was really helpful and said that she enjoyed helping me so everything worked out.

I continued singing as I finished up all of the dishes. I had yelled for help a bit ago and didn't bother stopping my final preparations or singing when they arrived.

 

_Standing there in front of a painting that caught his eye inside the strange art gallery_

_The little boy had said_

_It seems I've failed again as he held a single lighter tightly in his hands._

I finished singing "[Heat Haze Days](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o6_ueO6AJI)" - I totally blame Nagisa for introducing me to Vocaloid, by the way - and then I turned to see Yukio and about 3 other priests gathered around me. I smiled sweetly at them and told them which plates to grab. Luckily no one made any comments on my singing and we made it back to the dining room embarrassment and mess free. We all sat down and began to eat.

I giggled at their reactions to my food. Most of them had awestruck faces and Fujimoto immediately began to almost shovel the food. Yukio stared at me in awe and he too began to eat with excitement. After we had all finished eating I went to the spare room I was told would be mine until the school year began. I put my duffel down but didn't unpack much. I figured that if I needed anything then all I'd have to do was grab it from my bag. Then I quickly changed into an oversized grey T-shirt and stripped down to my boxers and settled in to sleep. Looks like day 2 of my act is over. I sighed, just another year to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	6. A First Impression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Rin P.O.V

I stood outside the monastery (as I was told it was) with Yukio waiting for our 'ride' to arrive. I had spent the break catching up with all the priests. I told them the cover story we had come up with for my time spent in Class E. I told them that our original teacher had unfortunately been hit by a car and killed a week before school started so the government provided a teacher for us. I gave the excuse that he ran the class sort of like a boot camp to explain my fitness and ease in P.E. as well as to make my boredom in class and P.E. less obvious.

It would explain a lot and if my classmates ever met Karasuma-sensei and somehow found out that he was my teacher and was not just military, then he has the excuse of being undercover to watch in case I ever became a threat. Not the best excuse but it would have to do. I have no idea if they will even meet Karasuma-sensei but it is always good to have a plan anyway. All these plans, after all, rely upon certain responses from the people we are trying to fool. Anyway, a couple days ago we had received our uniforms so now I was wearing it and I had to say it was surprisingly durable as well as functional.

Maybe ours were somehow different than the standard issue uniforms. Hmm, I wonder just how much these special uniforms can withstand. I know for a fact that my flames will not harm anything on my body unless I want it too so I won't have to worry about that during battle. That would be a pain. They were a simple white dress shirt with a black and red tie. Ours had a weird symbol at the base of the tie signifying that we were in the cram school.

The symbol represented protection which is the ultimate purpose of an exorcist. No one but the cram students would understand the significance of said symbol, and I doubt that even some of the cram school students will fully understand its purpose. It had some black tight fitting dress pants and some basic black shoes. It also came with a navy blue jacket type thing. I didn't really like it but the uniform didn't look put together without it. Unlike my brother, I did not do it up and instead wore it open. I also wore my shirt buttons undone at the top and my tie hanging loosely around and under the collar displaying my amulet that I always wore.

Luckily the uniform hid my tattoos - didn't need any unnecessary assumptions and questions. Until P.E. that is. Then I would have to change into my gym uniform fully exposing my arms. 

Great. 

I tapped my foot impatiently. Why couldn't our headmaster arrive sooner? He was already late by about 15 minutes. Seriously why was he taking his sweet time? Just as I thought this, a pink limo came careening down the street where it finally stopped before us.

Yukio flew backward in surprise and luckily I managed to catch him. Even though I had to hide everything, I had actually grown to care for Yukio. Despite his suspicions of me, Yukio has been nothing but caring after finding out why I had come to live with them. He understood that I would be a little unsettled and made sure that I felt at home there. Even doing what he could in the kitchen with me despite his hate for cooking. He truly was a good brother and I felt kind of guilty for lying to him.

But I believe he will understand... maybe. Ah well, when the limo's wheels had finally stopped smoking and Yukio had regained his footing, shooting me a grateful look over his shoulder, a very tall man (but not as tall as I remembered Garry being) stepped out of the back door. I had to look up a bit and I would say that he was about a head taller than me. He was dressed very strangely and had a distinct demonic feeling about him. Ah, so this was Mephisto the demon king.

I honestly had no idea that he would end up being our principal. He grinned down at us giving us a good view of his sharp teeth and bloodthirsty eyes, as well as his incredible height. It was a simple intimidation tactic but it didn't work on me. Poor Yukio shivered under the gaze but didn't cower. I was proud of him. I looked up at the demon king and smiled my best ikemen smile. (Isogai had made me practice with him until I had mastered his smile).

Mephisto seemed shocked that I withstood his stare but also seemed satisfied about something. I knew that damned demon was hiding something but was just very good at hiding it. He probably doubts my abilities because of my age. I know that Mephisto was told of me, but I had no idea what he actually knew about me. Hopefully, it wasn't much or he might blow my cover just to create some drama. I hid my contempt and apprehension behind a small smile. "Ah hello, Pheles-san. Thanks so much for arriving late," I deadpanned.

Mephisto laughed at us and then said in a mocking tone "my dear boy, with sass like that, this shall be an interesting year indeed. I simply can't wait for this show to begin." He giggled and gestured to the open door "come on we are late as it is. No point wasting any more time, let's be on our way!" I grabbed my duffle, which I hadn't actually unpacked over the break at all and hopped right into the limo. I felt quite accomplished. Of course, I had washed and packed all of my extra clothes as well as all of my uniforms. So I had everything that I owned and would be bringing them to the dorms.

I pulled out my headphones that Itona had made and given to me the other day when I managed to sneak away to make it to Purgatory. It had taken a lot of work but I had managed to sneak away from my protective younger brother. Yukio was a good brother but sometimes he was just a little too protective of me. Since he thought I was new to this world and feared I would end up being attacked by a demon when I was out without him I didn't get to travel alone much. It was irritating, but at the same time so naive. I did tell him the neighborhood that I grew up in, and he's even seen my rose tattoos. Did he really think that I grew up completely sheltered and unable to defend myself?

He trusts too easily. The headphones that Itona gave me were a new design he had been working on. They played music from one ear while the other worked as an amplifier. I could listen to my music and tune out as well as listen in on people’s conversations or footsteps. It was a spying device and they gave me an edge against those who distrusted me. Itona knew that once they found out who I was they wouldn't trust me and with these, I could easily listen in on their conversation while they remained completely oblivious.

I put them on and pointedly looked out the window to tell them with my body language that I didn't want to be bothered. I knew for a fact that the school was at least half an hour away so I would have time to work on some things. I pulled out my book bag and brought out my laptop. Opening it to a music writing program, I continued to write songs - Korosensei had insisted that we all take up a hobby to deal with the stress from Class E and songwriting was the only thing that I could think of. 

I was currently writing a song I liked to think of as Mary's theme. I based the lyrics on her story and no matter how much I hate the bitch, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her sometimes. If only she hadn't killed Garry, then maybe we could have been friends.

While I was doing this I listened to Yukio talking to Mephisto and filling him in. "He seems relatively normal Pheles-san. I mean, he's been very nice to us and despite finding out his whole life has been a lie, he still is so happy. Though he did have this one weird day where he sulked and hid in his room the entire day. I later found him in the backyard burning a blue rose. Where and when did he even get a blue rose? I made sure to go with him everywhere in case he was ever attacked by one of Satan's followers. It makes me uncomfortable to not know something." Mephisto had a thoughtful look on his face. For a second I was scared that he would reveal my secret and that all the hard work I put into appearing normal would be down the drain the second he opened his mouth. Instead, he reassured Yukio that it was fine and that since I was a teenager I was allowed a few weird angsty days.

I could've hit myself. I shouldn't have let down my facade for a day but I couldn't really control it. I didn't expect them to understand after all, as far as I know, Kyoya is the only one to know about my time in the art gallery. Sometimes I just wish that I didn't have to deal with crap like this but meh, life isn't fair. I was glad that Mephisto had deemed it a good idea to keep my secret. The ride then continued in silence until we arrived at a rundown looking dorm. Great, they would be giving us a completely different dorm because we were half demon. Like we weren't freaks already.

On the bright side, I don't have to hide my tail in the dorm. Yukio climbed out and said a thank you to Mephisto before entering the dorm. I was about to do the same when Mephisto spoke up. "Why Paladin-san, it's interesting to see you here." I stiffened. So he did know who I was. Things just got a lot more complicated. Sighing I turned from where my hand rested on the doorknob of the building to face him. I dropped my act immediately and unleashed a death glare that Kyoya had taught me. 

"No one can know got it? I am here merely to get an education, help the cram students, and watch over my brother. There will be enough drama when I am revealed. It would work better in both of our favors if I were to be discovered at a later date. More drama for you and time or me. So let's keep everything you know about me hush hush."

I said in a dark tone. He looked mildly surprised at my quick change of character but he brushed it off with a shrug. "I don't see why not Okumura-kun. Don't forget you have classes tomorrow." Then he disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. I growled under my breath before continuing into the dorm. I found Yukio waiting for me on the second floor where the rooms were. I quickly smiled brightly at him before saying "sorry that damned clown decided he needed to remind me that school began tomorrow. As if I would forget, I have a perfect attendance record. I will not screw it up now." Well... not really but that's beside the point.

Yukio looked shocked before he deadpanned at me "Nii-san you shouldn't call him a clown, it's rude."

I rolled my eyes at him, why did he have to be such a stick in the mud? He was honestly no fun and took school way to serious. I guess he did have a reason to be serious, considering he barely got in here on scholarship. He did have to study pretty hard to keep up with that level. Once again I was thankful that I didn't have to study hard considering I know enough to graduate here in a month. Thank goodness for Kunugikaoka's strict learning regime or I would probably be in the same boat as my dear brother here.

I opened a door that was at the corner of the building and told Yukio that I was claiming this one as my own and he was not allowed in. He chuckled at my antics but selected a room across the hall from it. I entered my room and began to unpack my things. I put my uniforms in the closet and took out my school bag. I set that on the desk that sat underneath a window. Then I began to organize my art supplies. The room I had selected had a window in the middle of the far wall and a generic russet desk and black rolling chair underneath it.

Near the desk, in the corner of the room was a single bed. Across from that on the same wall as the door, there was a closet. The end of the bed was about a 2 feet away from it. There was one blank wall to the right or the window. Since there was a blank wall I figured that would be a good place to set up some of my art stuff. I stole a stool from one of the empty rooms and set that in front of a collapsible easel I set up. I stole another little table from an empty room and set my supplies on it. Then I unrolled the painting of Garry and tapped it up on the blank wall. The blue fire faded out into the white edges matched the walls perfectly and I felt the urge to cover the wall with images. Since this was a dorm room I couldn't actually paint on the wall so instead, I took some more canvas I had saved and tapped it up on the wall until it covered it.

I figured over the course of the year I would paint different memories and things on the canvases. I left all other wall space in the room uncovered for now. I would put up pictures of my time here and research. Fuwa-chan had made me watch BBC's Sherlock and I quite like the way he organizes himself. Thinking of this I quickly got some of my yellow paint out and drew a smiley face on one corner of the canvas wall. Satisfied with my work I headed down to the kitchen to make some food for Yukio and I. It was getting pretty late and I figured I would make some dinner before I began to study for the first day. Even though I already knew all that I needed to know I wanted a quick recap so I wouldn't forget anything and so I could be at the top of the class.

It was to be expected of the number 1 student of Kunugikaoka to have outstanding grades and to not be outdone by anyone. When I arrived I was shocked to see a little demon beginning to boil some water. He looked like he would be cooking a big meal soon. I announced my presence with a small 'hi'. "Are you the chef of this dorm?" I asked quietly. I didn't expect him to respond thinking that I was a normal human exorcist but to my surprise he did. "Silly human, of course, I am the chef. What do you think I'm doing in the kitchen?" He had a gruff voice and he spoke the demon tongue but I was glad for my demon blood because I understood him.

The way he spoke reminded me of a character from another show that Fuwa-chan had made me watch. (Bobby Singer from Supernatural) I chuckled lightly and responded "Well I'm not all human my good sir! In fact, I am the half-demon son of Satan." I said happily. "Do you mind if I help cook?" I don't know if he was more surprised at me understanding him, me being the son of Satan and admitting it so happily or the fact that I offered to help cook. His reaction was quite cute I had to say. He recovered from his shock quickly and then started telling me all about what we were making, where everything was and how to make what we were making.

Half an hour later we had a delicious meal on the table. I smiled at the little demon who had told me his name was Ukobach and thanked him. He smiled back (or as much as he could smile with his demonic qualities) and left to go eat his dinner in the kitchen with all the other helpful demons that lived in this dorm. None of them were humanoid and they all lived in the basement. They acted like the staff in a mansion; cooking, cleaning and making sure that everything was fully stocked and in order.

I called Yukio down from where he was no doubt studying in his new room. The idiot probably hadn't even begun to unpack yet, probably too worried about his first day as a teacher. Speaking of that I had decided on the course of action that I would take for my time with the cram students. I would act all lazy like I didn't even care about the class (giving my time in Class E as an excuse) but when called upon as I un-doubtfully will be, will answer all the questions correctly and in great detail. I would obviously ace all the tests and classes but I would say my main goal is to become a Knight and a Tamer. During my studies to become an exorcist, I never had the time to practice let alone try summoning something and it always intrigued me. Considering I would have my sword with me at all times (It did fit in my bag so I could hide it during regular school hours) I would obviously be going for Knight.

A lot of faking would be involved to downplay my skill but hopefully, it will pay off as a convincing cover. With my skills, I would be respected and my warm (but slightly hot-headed) ikemen personality would draw them in as well as making them feel comfortable. But maybe I would pick a fight with an arrogant student every now and then to show off my hot-headed attitude. At my call, Yukio came dashing down the stairs. We ate in silence and then he left to his room to get some sleep before tomorrow. I followed his example a couple hours later after I had finished recapping all that I had learned with Korosensei. I wonder what school will be like.

 

* * *

 

I woke up the next day at approximately 6:00 in the morning. School started at 7:30, so I had to be up and ready early so that Yukio would have time to as well and so I could hide my tattoos. I showered quickly and then got dressed in my uniform and jewelry and brushed my hair after drying it. I had decided to leave it red rather than dye it. What was the point of bleaching my hair or dyeing it a normal color when lots of people were doing just that to get my shade? I made it downstairs by 6:45 and started making breakfast for Yukio and me. I also made us some bentos for lunch.

It was around 7 when I finished, so I ate my breakfast and brought Yukio his. One thing I learned while living with Yukio is that he hates being woken up like Kyoya, but he handles it a lot better especially when he gets food too. I put his breakfast along with a very strong coffee on his desk. I nudged him and then I went and began to pack our bags. I packed my gym clothes and my fighting outfit as well as my books, weapons, laptop and sketchbook (internally cringing at what that name implies) and neatly packed it into my book bag. Then I got my sword and tucked it into one of those poster tubes. I didn't like it but it would have to do considering it would be highly suspicious if I had a sword on my back in the regular school. The students would just assume I was artsy and so pretentious that I carried around a canvas or two.

Then I proceeded to pack anything that Yukio would need for the day. I put regular school books as well as cram school teaching materials. I also put a mug of coffee into the bag and left tat near the door of his room. He is responsible enough to get up on his own. So I grabbed a key to the dorm and slid that into my pocket along with my lighter and began the trek to the school building. It wasn't nearly as long or as difficult as the trip up the mountain, so I made it with ease.

Since it was the first day all of the classes would be light and introductory. We would find out which class we were in as well. I obviously would be in Class A, but I also knew that Yukio unfortunately only made it to Class B, so I wouldn't have him with me. I hope that no one from Kunugikaoka ends up going here or my cover just might be blown. I cannot risk that. 

Sighing I got my schedule from the front desk and then headed over to my class. I chose a seat at the very back of the class so hopefully, no one would notice that I wasn't paying attention. It was one thing to not pay attention in cram school but in the actual school, I believe that it is frowned upon.

I had just gotten my notebook and sketchbook out (just because I wouldn't be paying my full attention to this class does not mean that I won't take notes. Then I have proof that I was paying attention and can escape punishment.) When someone decided that it would be a good idea to sit next to me. I groaned internally and turned to look at the person who decided he wanted to sit at the back of the class too. My eyes widened slightly as I saw who it was. It was none other than Shindou, the baseball guy that Sugino has a crush on. I couldn't believe my bad luck but hey, at least it wasn't someone like Asano. I am 90% sure that Shindou also likes Sugino so I am sure he can do me a favor.

He looked over at me shocked and said "A-Akabane-san?! Why are you here?" I shushed him before he could continue. "Now now, Shindou, I am in a situation of sorts. I now go by Okumura Rin and I am a nice ikemen with a slight temper. Don't ruin this for me." I said while smiling sweetly. He gulped lightly and nodded to confirm he understood. "Now just play along, and we will be just fine, alright," I said in a menacing tone. Once I saw him nod shakily I completely 180'd my personality. "Hi, Shindou-kun! How long has it been? The last time I saw you was when we played baseball!" I said in a loud upbeat voice. There still wasn't enough people in the class that a discussion would be ignored so I had to put on a show so that they thought we were normal. 

He smiled and blushed slightly at the awkward situation. Putting his hand on the back of his head and scratching at his hair lightly he replied with simple charm "Ah Akabane-san I've been good. I had no idea that you would be attending this school"

He wasn't all that bad at acting and we pulled off some easy small talk about baseball and Sugino until the teacher came. As far as I was concerned that was a success. Hopefully, no one else would recognize me at this school or it might just become a bit more complicated than I would like it to be. The teacher began to speak and I began to take notes whenever I felt it was necessary and drew in my sketchbook the rest of the time.

Luckily for me, the rest of the day went smoothly and I didn't run into any additional problems nor did anyone recognize me. I safely made it to cram school without incident and I sat and waited patiently in the class while everyone else began to slowly trickle in. I didn't have to wait long. A group of 3 soon entered and I had to say they were certainly odd. The tallest and who looked to be the leader of the group looked like the standard delinquent that I usually dealt with. He had a bunch of ear piercings (hmm maybe I should consider piercing one of my ears...).

He also had some weird blonde Mohawk that made his glare just a bit more intimidating. Only a bit though. He had this air of anger around him that was unsettling. The guy next to him was about my height and had a head of bright pink hair. He had this goofball like look about him that made me nervous because he looked like the type to prank someone. The last one was pretty short about Nagisa's height and was completely bald. He looked like a complete nerd and a wimp. They went and sat near the back of the class but still a good distance away from me.

They began quietly discussing some crap about what their goals were. The gruff one was proudly declaring that he wanted to kill Satan because he wants to have revenge against him because of the Blue Night at his temple. It appears that the others were also part of the temple. They know loss and have bonded over it. Good, they won't be horrified by what they see in the field if things go wrong and they seem to already have some knowledge of the demonic world past the basics.

The next 2 to come in were a couple of girls. They weren't short as they were just a bit shorter than me yet still taller than that bald kid. One had a warm welcoming aura and reminded me of a kind parent figure. She seemed like a caretaker. She had wide blue eyes and pixie cut light brown hair. The second girl was like her exact opposite. She reminded me of a Kyoya without manners. How could I tell you ask? Well, she had a hostile look about her and glared at everything that moved as if it was their fault that she was in a bad mood. Some might describe it as being on their period all the time. She had long purple hair that was put into pigtails and her eyebrows reminded me of dots. They sat down near the front of the class and quietly whispered to each other about, you guessed it, why they were here.

The polka-brow girl seemed to be here because of motivation to get stronger as well as her ancestors being shrine maidens while the brown haired one tagged along. She wasn't that motivated, she wouldn't last long here at all. I sighed heavily as I leaned back in my chair. The groups had given me and each other a wide berth. This was so different then what we did in Class E, it would take some time to get used to. Class started in about 5 minutes so I took out my sketchbook and I began to absentmindedly sketch a figure. It was pretty basic and hard to tell what it was at first, but all drawings started out that way. When I looked down I was greeted with the outline of a girl with long curly hair and a dress that went down to her knees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	7. The First Day and an Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Rin P.O.V

As I began to make the basic doodle a bit more detailed and defined Yukio walked in with a smile. He put his bag down at the desk and began giving a speech about the demonic world. I was bored as I had heard all of this before. It was even worded similarly! All exorcist must get the same explanation. He asked the people who hadn't received their temptaint to come to the front of the class. Figures it's the brown haired chick and that bald wimp. He looks like he could barely hurt a fly and if he did he would probably cry for an hour. As soon as he had given the temptaint something went wrong. I sighed as Yukio told everyone to get down and began shooting at the somehow medium class demons that got summoned. Before Yukio could fire more than 2 bullets I drew my sword and leapt into action. I made sure that I didn't show my flames (can't give away my secret on the first day after all) and quickly took out each demon with a single calculated strike.

I landed softly on Yukio's desk as soon I got the last one that was getting to close to him for comfort. He looked shocked as he held his gun out ready to fire if there was any more. I stood up graceful, sheathed my sword and proceeded to calmly hop off his desk to walk to mine. A great first impression I've made. Go me! Once I had made my way back to my desk, Yukio awkwardly cleared his throat and continued his speech but this time including crap about the demons that just attacked the classroom. I tuned him out and instead continued drawing the girl.

Luckily because of that incident, our class with Yukio was almost over and we would be starting our P.E. class. Because we are cram school students we don't have P.E. with the regular students and instead get special training from an exorcist. First, we obviously had to change out of our uniforms seeing as we would probably be training with demons and I speak for myself mostly but we wouldn't want to damage these uniforms. Though they are durable they easily tear when they come in contact with claws. I, unfortunately, found this out when I came into contact with Kuro, Father Fujimoto's cat sidhe familiar. He wrecked one of my uniforms and I was forced to fix it. That damned cat.

I along with the other 3 boys went to the male changing rooms and began to change. I without a second thought walked into the room and began to strip. I pulled off my tie and dress shirt and changed into a gray sleeveless muscle T. My tail was tucked into my pants so they didn't see anything. My shirt was long enough to cover my tail when I removed my pants and I quickly put on my black sports shorts. When that was done I slipped off my dress shoes in favor of some black high-top converse. They had good grip and were surprisingly good for running especially if you needed to take tight corners. I had worn my arm bands underneath my dress shirt so they weren't suspicious and I transferred my lighter into my shorts pocket. My amulet slipped underneath my shirt and felt warm against the front of my chest. That was when I suddenly felt 3 pairs of eyes staring at my tattoos.

I quickly turned around in time to catch all 3 of them staring. "It's not nice to stare" I said in a simple tone as if I was making a comment on the weather. The bald guy, or Konekomaru, blushed and the Mohawk guy, Ryuji or Bon as his friends called him, looked pissed. I laughed internally at their reactions but it was the pink haired one, who I believe was named Shima, that was the one to speak up first. 

"Hey Okumura, why did you even get those tats in the first place? I mean what do they signify?" I smiled softly at his blunt attitude. He reminded me of Okajima. They even read the same porn magazines. 

"They represent a time in my life I both terribly miss and never ever want to revisit." I said sarcastically.

The 3 seemed to be thinking about what I had said as if it would help them figure me out. I silently laughed at their pathetic efforts. It would do them no good to ask me questions. They would have to get to know me better before I gave away anything. I smiled to myself as we walked out of the changing room. The girls came out soon after us and we all made our way into the gym. I don't know what I had expected but it certainly wasn't this. From what I heard from Yukio (he had toured the place beforehand but I had never been here), it was supposed to be like a giant arena without the stands. But this, this was like a little splash of home. Instead of the barren arena I pictured in my head there was a miniature version of the mountain where the class E building was located.

On the top of the miniature mountain stood a tall platform that allowed the teacher to view everything that happened in the surrounding area. And on the platform stood Karasuma-sensei! I couldn't believe it. He was really here?! I wonder what he was planning on teaching us. As soon as we arrived at the base of the mini-mountain Karasuma-sensei began to make his way down the mountain at incredible speeds using the terrain like he taught us too that one class so long ago. He landed right in front of us and I couldn't help but smile at him. I couldn't give too much away but I really wanted to say something to him. I would probably walk up to him after class.

He looked us all up and down then turned to me. He spoke in his usual business monotone that Class E had grown to love. "Today we will be learning to use the terrain around us to our advantage. I am well aware that it is the first day but there is no time to waste on silly things like races. Things like that don't teach you what you need to know if you ever get into a fight in unfamiliar territory. Now I know that some of you plan on becoming Arias and Doctors but this is a valuable skill if you are ever giving chase or if you are ever running away from something. It also gives you speed and endurance so an all-around good physical lesson." I was kind of awed at how much he spoke. He generally didn't speak that much at one time, preferring to come up with a quick and concise way of saying it. Here he thought it best to use a more in-depth explanation than what he gave us. After all it was the first day.

I smiled to myself. I was glad that I had already learned this because the training part of it was brutal. If you weren't very good at anything physical this training would just be miserable. When he had taught us we were already used to his way of teaching but bringing this our on the first day? He must expect us to be really awful at it. I mean I thought the same thing because these students just weren't ready for that type of extreme training. My grin grew when Karasuma-sensei turned to me. I could tell he wanted to roll his eyes but deemed it too unprofessional.

Bon seemed angered at this. "Hey, we can't do that. You have obviously practiced more than us and your body is a lot different than ours. You're at least 10 years older than us!" He exclaimed angrily. Karasuma-sensei closed his eyes in annoyance before turning once more to face me. 

"Well, you do have a point with me being more experienced and all that but one of your classmates has also trained with this and he is smaller than you." at that everyone looked over at me where I stood slouching looking for all it's worth like I didn't even care about this class.

Karasuma-sensei got this feral look in his eyes and I just knew something bad was about to happen when he said "Okumura-san would you like to race me to the top?" I sighed heavily before straightening up from my slouched position. I didn't want to have to put too much effort into this class. 

Ah well, looks like I would have to do my best, after all, he is the one who had taught me this. I stood up straighter and walked over to where he stood. "Well no time like the present to show off what I've learned, eh Sensei?" I drawled as I got into position next to Karasuma-sensei. He looked at me and nodded. He counted down from 3 and then we were off. Racing up the mountain and swinging from trees. I laughed, this was exhilarating to be running through the trees again. Soon I had arrived at the platform a split second before Karasuma-sensei.

I beamed up at him and he sighed in exasperation. We made our way down the mountain again but this time at a slower pace using more complicated moves. When we made it down all the cram students looked thoroughly impressed. Bon seemed even more determined than he did earlier today. I walked back to my place in the makeshift line and waited for further instruction, Karasuma-sensei then began to teach them to basics and we were off again. I thought that Class E learned slowly, but damn these kids were learning way slower than we ever did.

At least they weren't actually wearing a uniform or they probably would have torn the material by now. In fact, they had torn parts of their gym clothes because they were so incapable. It made me nervous, these are the people I will be fitting alongside? Even Terasaka had been better and he was an idiot.

Absolutely ridiculous. There was no way we would stand any chance against Satan if he did end up rising. But that would take at least 3 years for him to do, so I guess we did have some time. I sighed as I began to make laps around the other students. This was going to be a long couple of years if this was how it would be like.

 

* * *

 

Bon P.O.V

I grumpily walked into the cram school class with Shima and Konekomaru. I couldn't wait for this class to start so I could learn how to kick Satan's ass. We were in a heavy conversation when we entered the class but that doesn't mean I didn't notice my surroundings. Sitting near the back left but not actually in the back corner was another student. Normally, I wouldn't have cared even a little bit about my other classmates but this one seemed different. He had bright red hair and pointed ears like a damn elf. His golden eyes glinted with intelligence and I had a feeling that he might give me a run for my money as the most intelligent in the class.

He wore his uniform loosely exposing a strange amulet that rested on his chest. Even though his uniform was loose I could still tell that he had some muscle but not too much that it becomes disgusting. His figure was more lean than anything. Despite the fact that he was sitting down I could tell he was probably Shima's height leaving me still taller than him. He had a sketchbook in front of him and he seems to analyze us as he looked up from whatever he was drawing. I ignored him for the rest of the time before class thinking he wouldn't be important. 

When our teacher finally came in I was shocked. He looked about our age and he had this nerd like appearance. This guy is actually and exorcist?! He called out all of our names so I was able to know who the other 3 in the class room were. There was a girl with brown hair that looked way too weak to be in a class like this, her name was Paku. The girl who looked like she was always on her period and had weird polka-dot eyebrows that matched her long purple pigtails was named Izumo. And finally, the red-haired kid was named Okumura Rin. He was the teacher’s brother apparently. 

Then our teacher launched into an explanation about the demon world and everything we would need to learn this year. He then brought the subject up of temptaints and gave them to the students who didn't have one.

I was mildly surprised that Okumura didn't need one. He looked to be new with this despite having a sword on his back. The teacher still looked to be a bit awkward with him so maybe Okumura had a reason for coming here. He probably grew up away from Okumura-sensei and came to live with him during the break before school. He most likely found out about demons by now. 

Then suddenly something happened. Someone knocked over something and what was summoned wasn't a few harmless goblins, no we accidentally summoned about 20 hobgoblins.

As soon as Sensei told us to get down we hit the deck and hid underneath the desks. We knew that we were too inexperienced to be of any help to Sensei. But just because we were underneath the desks doesn't mean that we can't see what's happening. Sensei had shot down like 3 when suddenly Rin leaped up and unsheathed the katana he had slung across his shoulders. He was pretty impressive, I admit. He took down every hobgoblin with a single strike of his sword and even got one that was about to bite Sensei. After that, he landed quietly on Sensei's desk not even disturbing any of the papers. After sheathing the katana, he hopped off and walked back to his desk.

I was honestly shocked, I had pegged this guy as a newbie that probably had about Konekomaru's skill but this guy was pretty incredible. When we had all situated ourselves again Okumura-sensei continued class as if that didn't happen. Our lesson for the day was on goblins and hobgoblins though. When I looked back over at Rin I was shocked to see him drawing in his sketchbook instead of paying attention. Maybe I miscalculated after all. Class soon finished because the interruption took quite a bit of class time to cover and we were moving on to P.E.

We made our way to the changing rooms and as soon as the door closed behind us Rin stated pulling off his shirt. When he was rummaging through his bag for his shirt I took the time to examine him. Just from his back, I could tell that he got those muscles by hard work and not working out in a gym. His one arm was covered in tattoos of colored roses and was only interrupted by two metal armbands. He finally seemed to find his clothes and continued changing into his gym clothes. I followed his example and finished myself. Maybe he sensed that we were staring because he whipped around and said in a simple matter of fact voice "It's not nice to stare." I turned away immediately and continued to tie up my shoes.

But Shima didn't get the memo and spoke up asking about his tattoos. His response confused me even more about him. What does he mean by a 'time in his life that he both misses and never ever wants to revisit’? It seems a little strange of a thing to say and how on earth does he think that blue and red roses represent that? It's very odd for him to even have tattoos considering the fact that he is a first-year student. It was certainly odd of him and who would even ink him? I thought about all of this while we walked to the gym.

I had taken a tour of this place before so when I saw the gym had been changed from its basic arena to what looked like a miniature mountain I was certainly shocked and unimpressed. Then this man came racing down the mountain and stood before us. He was tall, taller than me, and he had spick black hair that surrounded deep set glaring eyes. He wore a simple black suit and white dress shirt along with the school tie. He looked to have been high up in the military at one point and I had a sinking feeling that he would be running this class like a boot camp. Great, I highly doubted that Konekomaru’s could handle a normal class of P.E. but with this, he'll probably fail.

The teacher then went on some long speech about what this class would teach us and why he was jumping right into the hard stuff on the first day. I couldn't believe he actually wanted us to do this crap. It was so not on our level and he was at least twice as built as us. After hearing my complaint he seemed to sigh in exasperation which only proved to further anger me. He turned to Okumura and then asked him to race him. I couldn't help but snicker quietly. No way could Okumura do that. Sure he had muscles but he was way smaller than Sensei and probably couldn't even reach the second tree if he tried.

He didn't seem like the type to care or try either by the way he was standing. But then he did the opposite of what I thought he would do. He straightened his posture and walked over to Sensei and got into position. Sensei counted down from 3 and believe it or not they went even faster than Sensei had at the beginning of the class. Rin even managed to beat sensei by a split second. I couldn't believe it, how did he get so good at this. After they made their way down, more showing off then speed now, Sensei began to instruct us on the basics. When we tried I was shocked again at how hard it was.

Sensei and Okumura made it seem easy but it was plain to say that we were all having a lot of difficulty with this. While we were struggling and failing miserably, Rin was just running circles around us. It was infuriating and I couldn't help but wonder how he even learned to do this. It was just another mystery added to the growing list about Okumura Rin. When we finally finished class we left for the day to head back to our dorms and do our homework. I was exhausted but I still had a crap ton of work to finish before tomorrow. Uhhhhh.

 

* * *

 

Rin P.O.V

After class I headed to the dorm I shared with Yukio reflecting on my day. It was certainly interesting. After class I had spoken with Karasuma-sensei and we had caught up. I found out how my classmates had been settling into the gang and I was happy to hear that they were fitting in just fine. I even found out the schools that they were all going to and I had to say I was quite impressed with some of them. Heck, Kanzaki made it into Ouran. I would have to ask Kyoya about her. Anyway I made it back to the dorm with plenty of time to make some food and do my work. So I had Ukobach help me with the food while I finished the work that I got today.

 

Yukio arrived in time to grab some food before he said he had to stop by a supply store. I asked if I could go and soon we were off walking off to a supply store. I was shocked to see we were going to a store that Shiemi's mother ran. How I know Shiemi? Well the thing was I went here quite often to get my roses. They grew the colored roses so I didn't have to buy artificially colored ones. The reason that they grew colored was due to demonic interference with the plant. 

As soon as we walked in Shiemi's mother hugged us both and greeted Yukio and I. She told me Shiemi was in the garden and that she would like to see me. I smiled at the woman and began to head out into the garden when Yukio grabbed my arm. "How do you know this place?" He asked in a hushed tone while Shiemi's mother got the herbs that he required.

"I come here often to get my roses," I whispered back and he let me go. I made my way out into the garden and called for Shiemi. I heard an 'I'm here' from somewhere near the roses and began to make my way over to them. Shiemi was a small girl and was probably Konekomaru's height and almost always wore formal kimonos. She had shoulder length blonde hair that was cut like a bob cut. She had wide blue eyes but not a cruel blue like Mary's, no she had a lovely sky blue pair of eyes. Don't get me wrong, I do not have any feelings for her other than brotherly affections and plus, she totally has a crush on Yukio.

I just wish she would ask him out already because I know he never will and if she wants to get anywhere with him she will have to make the first move. When I arrived at her location I saw her tending to the roses I requested that they looked after for me. It was a single bush but it grew 3 colors of flowers. It was mainly blue and red but there was the occasional burst of yellow roses. Shiemi and her mother took great care of my flowers and for that, I was very thankful. We chatted for a bit until Yukio came out and told me about her leg problems. I said I had been noticing them lately and we were discussing possibilities when we heard a hissing sound.

When we turned around we saw Shiemi had been possessed by a flower demon. I growled angrily at the nerve of the demon. For possessing one of my friends, it would suffer. Yukio pulled out his gun and holy water but I gestured for him not to. I knew him shooting her wouldn't actually hurt her but I knew its fatal verse so why waste a bullet? Quickly I said the verse and leaped forward in time to catch her as she fell. I carried her into her room after getting directions from her mother and then we told her all about what happened.

Her mother understood and even thanked us for taking care of the demon that had been possessing her daughter. She handed Yukio the herbs he asked for but she told us to wait while she got something for me from the back. She came back with a simple black flower pot that held a rose bush. The rose bush hadn't fully grown yet and was still pretty small but I could see that it already had 3 small blooms. I could tell from their color that this was a mini version of my demonic roses. "Here dear, now you've got your own plant for the roses," She said as she handed me both the plant and a jug of rose water. One special thing about the plant was that it required rose water to grow properly. We smiled and thanked her, then began to trek to our dorm. It was late after all and Yukio still had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	8. A Study in Demon Summoning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Rin P.O.V

It had been 2 weeks since school had started. Shiemi had joined our cram classes because she wanted to become a Doctor so that she could use her knowledge of plants to help people. Things had gotten a lot calmer and I had actually managed to make friends with the Kyoto 3 (as they were called) and the 3 girls in the class. I was glad that we had managed to get along because a united front was so much stronger than individuals. We all got long pretty well even though there were some friendly squabbles and I was starting to get comfortable around everyone.

Today in class we would finally be exploring summoning demons. I couldn’t wait, I wonder what I would summon - I was powerful, so of course, I would summon something. 

I woke up the same time as always and began my daily routine. I got myself ready then I made the food and dropped that off in Yukio's room. I went back to my room to get my stuff. Before I left the room I made sure to water the rose bush that sat on my desk. It had grown quite a bit in the 2 weeks I've had it but I made sure I took great care of it and I already had a vase full of lovely blue and red roses. It hadn't produced any big yellow roses so I didn't bother putting those in the vase.

What I had noticed about it is that the yellow roses grow near the bottom of the plant and they grow as tiny little roses. Making it much easier to carry them around so I clipped some of them and dried them for later use. I used the red roses to make rose water and holy rose water, while I kept the blue ones just to look at. They were too pretty to do anything else with them. 

Since things had been going well I had begun to paint on the canvas. I had painted a bunch of demons started in the bottom corner and crawling upwards. Any demon that I saw in person made its way onto my make shift mural.

I had occupied about 3 canvases with the demons and I had also finished the drawing of a girl that I had started. She turned out into a lovely drawing of Mary before she went psycho. I had put that along with all my other little doodles of the stuff from the gallery into my sketchbook. Near the end I had saved about 25 pages. Some of them were already covered in art but that's only because I had had someone learn a spell that allowed me to transfer the paintings I've done into the notebook. In the middle of the 25 pages that now felt like canvas and held all the same marking that each individual wall canvas held now rested my portrait of Garry. So if anything ever happened to my wall canvases I would always have an exact copy in my sketchbook. The canvas pages didn't make much a difference in my sketchbook so no one really noticed that the last 25 pages were different. I still had 21 canvas left to paint on and I had a begun to paint Korosensei and all my classmates and Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei as well as some background scenery from the mountain on two of them and I had also faded that out into some roses that framed the picture.

From the roses it went into some paintings of my time in the gallery. Those took up 4 canvases near the bottom corner opposite to the demon corner. Those seamlessly meshed together and near the top opposite to my old classmates I painted the exwires standing surrounded by demons. I had made sure to include as many demons in this portrait as possible. In the remaining space I left a blank spot near the top above the Forgotten Portrait for my next adventure and underneath the portrait I made the demons and gallery nightmares fade into a white wall that made it look as if the portrait was an art piece in a gallery. I had painted a little red-haired boy that sat before the painting crying while clutching a lighter and a lemon candy. The yellow smiley face still sat in the top corner but next to it also sat my gang mark surrounded by some basic graffiti. It sat above my portrait of the exwires.

On the back of the front cover of my sketchbook was the full canvas wall. It showed the entire view, not each individual canvas. I was pretty proud of the work that I had done but I hadn't shown it to anyone yet. I've shown the Forgotten Portrait and my drawing of the gallery and its people to them but nothing more than that. They didn't need to know about Korosensei or Class E yet. And they still had no idea that I was the Overlord. Thank god it had only been 2 weeks. I am way better at hiding things than that.

With that all finished I went through regular school faster than usual and made it to cram school in record time. I am usually the first one there anyway considering my classes end the earliest so I took a seat in the middle of the class. Then Kyoto trio and the girls all came in and sat around me. We usually had 10 minutes to chat before Yukio came into the class and we, of course, spent today talking about what we were going to summon. We had to have at least one Tamer in the class before we were allowed to do basic missions. We had to have at least one from each meister in our group before it was deemed safe to begin basic exorcisms and other missions.

We had Shima and me for Knight, Yukio and Shiemi for Doctor, Konekomaru and Bon for Aria, Yukio and I for Dragoon. About a week ago I had revealed my skill with my gun and the fact that I had bullets. I was more back up and I said I only learned how to wield one because I lived in a bad neighborhood with street thugs and I only used it for self-defense. I made sure to stress that because I don't think they would like to know that I kill people for a living. Because the Reaper was so highly requested it couldn't be just one person, so a couple years back I became the second Reaper and I worked for both original Reapers going where they told me they were wanted. It was good experience and I made a reputation for myself because my kill pattern was always different. While the real Reaper left a black skull scorched into the victim’s chest I left a simple red rose at every murder site.

I was feared in my own way but I had difficulty keeping up my job last year and now with Yukio watching my every move as well as school well I couldn't exactly take a leave of absence without coming off as suspicious. It didn't really end well. Sighing I began to discuss the possibility of more than 1 of us getting a summon. I knew that I would have enough power and authority to summon something but I just had no idea what I would be capable of summoning. I had a sneaking suspicion that Izumo would be able to summon something. I did not know how powerful it would be but she seemed like the type. Plus she didn't have a meister yet and it would only make sense for her to go for Tamer, especially with her personality.

I think Shiemi might have a good chance too considering she wants to become a Doctor with her plant knowledge. It would probably attract a greenman or something small yet helpful like that. They did have a lot in common. A love for plants, being small and cute yet very helpful and most importantly, their healing capabilities. I could tell that one day Shiemi would be a great Doctor. Bon, Shima, Konekomaru and Paku didn't believe they could summon something or didn't want to try. They said that they had enough to think about already and that I was crazy for trying 3 meisters. I immediately fought back saying I was only going for 2, my gun skills were only out of necessity and would only come in to play if necessary.

As we were discussing this Yukio walked in with Shura. I wonder why she was here. As per usual, she was wearing her shorts that barely passed as shorts and her red bikini top. It looked utterly ridiculous but I could hear Shima having a nosebleed already. No one else had any idea who she was and I was meant to keep it a secret, even from Yukio. He had no idea that I had already passed my training. Speaking of that my reveal hadn't happened yet so no way could she be here to train me in controlling my flames unless she told Yukio that was why and just planned on stealing me for a spar whenever she wanted.

She wouldn't do that, right? No way would she actually end up doing something as stupid as that. Maybe she is here to help teach us and to help supervise for missions. We would technically need another known exorcist to help us in case things got messy and with Yukio and I being the sons of Satan there was sure to be a bunch of trouble headed our way. I popped a lemon candy into my mouth as I stared bored at Yukio and Shura as they waited to be noticed. I had grown addicted to those damned lemon candies because they reminded me of him. It was stupid I know, but they brought comfort where there was none.

It made me feel close to him somehow. When Yukio and Shura had finally been noticed everyone shut up. Yukio stood at his desk and began to speak. "Hello, class today I would like to introduce my new teaching partner Kirigakure Shura. She will be helping with supervising you and with training the Knights and Tamers." 

Shura waved form where she was leaning against Yukio's desk and let out a loud "YO!" She smiled devilishly and then she stood up and pulled out some chalk and began to draw on the board. She spoke as she drew many different circles on the board. "Hello, brats. Today we will be testing to see if you are capable of summoning a demon. Now here are some basic summoning circles." She pointed at a bunch of circles she had made on the board and continued, "but these are just examples so I don't want you to pay too much attention to them. Each Tamer must create their own individual circle. It's like a rite of passage or using your own sword instead of someone else’s. Those who will be trying to summon something will you please take a piece of paper and get started on your circle." Yukio handed a piece of paper to Izumo, Shiemi, and me. We began to sketch out our circles as Shura continued her explanation. "Now once you've gotten yourself a circle you need to drop some blood on it for a 'sacrifice' this draws the demon that was meant to be your familiar to you."

"There are many different types of demons that you can summon so don't be alarmed if ya get a weird one. Not all demons are pretty. After you've performed the 'sacrifice' you must speak a summons. Now, this part is even simpler than the circle. All you have to do is speak the first words that pop into your mind. It can be anything but don't be too discouraged if nothing shows up. Sometimes you weren't destined to be a Tamer." She said bluntly. By the end of her speech, we had all finished our circles.

Mine looked like a devil's trap but without the star in the center. Instead, lines were woven around to frame each rune and some had roses. It was pretty basic but I felt it would suit me and my familiar. Shiemi as expected just drew a flower crown, yep if she managed to summon something it would definitely be a greenman. Izumo's was pretty interesting. She had drawn the basic summoning circle but added thorns and claws around it as well as some demonic symbols for foxes. It seems she would try to summon twin foxes. A clever move because foxes were very proud and powerful summons; she would definitely be respected for it.

So once Shura examined our circles and deemed them usable Izumo stepped up and pricked her finder with a needle and then spoke a command; "I humbly call thee Goddess Inari. Hear my wishes and leave none unfulfilled." Her voice was strong and had no wavers in confidence at all. As soon as she had finished her little chant two white foxes appeared and bowed to her. She smiled confidently and then tore the paper in half so that they could leave. She took a step back and allowed Shiemi to step up.

She as the opposite of Izumo's unwavering confidence and instead walked up shaking like a leaf. She pricked her finger on a needle and said in a small shaky voice "come out, come out wherever you are" there was silence for a bit before Shiemi went to walk back to her desk. 

Then suddenly a cry of "NEEEEEEE" came out of nowhere and a little green man came flying at Shiemi. Shocked she almost fell over before she began to laugh in joy at the fact that she had indeed summoned a little greenman.

She unlike Izumo didn't immediately tear up the paper in favor of hugging the greenman close and allowing him to sit on her shoulder. Now it was my turn and I had to say I was pretty nervous. I knew that being the son of Satan would allow me to summon a demon, I just had no idea what I would end up summoning. I sighed and stood up at the front of the class and pulled out a small knife I kept hidden in my sleeve and sliced the palm of my hand. I know it isn't the best place but it was a lot easier to get blood out of.

I allowed a couple drops to fall onto the circle where I had placed it on the floor in favor of pulling out a bandage to wrap my hand with. "Red, yellow, blue. 3 into 2; an evergreen truce. A promise of reunion" I spoke softly. I had no idea what else to say. The first words that popped into my head happened to be related to the gallery. Just when I thought that no one would come to my call a teen began to fade into existence. He looked to be around 3 years older than me but still younger than Shura. (I am 15, so he looked to be around 18) He stood taller than Mephisto, but not too tall that it would be awkward. He was about a head taller than me.

He had violet hair with darker shaded curly streaks coming from the top of his head and made it look like an upside down rose. His hair covered 1 of his pretty grey eyes that shone with sadness. He wore a ragged navy trench coat that was open in the front revealing some beige pants, black dress shoes, and a camouflage green tank top. I couldn't believe it, no way was he actually here. He was dead and trapped in the gallery. This had to be fake right? Like that fake Garry that tried to convince me to go with him when I was about to leave the horrible world of Guertena.

But I was in the real world. I didn't have to deal with this right?! There was no way the paintings had escaped because then Mary could come back. I am not prepared for that. I burned her painting she shouldn't be able to come back but if Garry did then that means she can too. How do I even know if this is the real Garry or not. Maybe that world was actually somehow connected to the demonic world of Gehenna like a third dimension but you know just closer to Gehenna than Asiah.

I suppose it would make some sense considering the horrors of that world that somehow mirrored an art gallery. Maybe if you died in the world of Guertena then you would be transported to Gehenna and you became a demon. That would explain why Garry had been summoned by the summoning spell. The spell was designed to summon the demon that you would be or were most connected too. In fact, there were many theories of people dying and coming back as demons to protect their loved ones or to kill those that have wronged them. It hasn't been recorded to have happened in the last 100 years but it has happened 3 times before.

In the majority of those cases they have come back for revenge but in the first one, they had come back because they wished to be reunited with their significant other. It was an odd phenomenon and certainly wasn't that common an occurrence. There was a chance that this is what Garry had done. Maybe his spirit had followed me out when I had left the world and because spirits of the dead aren't able to be seen even by those who can see demons, he would be converted to a demon in order for him to be able to respond to my summon.

Yeah things began to make a lot more sense now. I feel kind of bad for panicking a first, but let's be honest here. Wouldn't you have a freak out if someone came back from the dead? I sure hope that he is the only one. I definitely wouldn't want to have to deal with anything else from that world popping up anytime soon. I looked over Garry to make sure he was ok. He didn't appear to be damaged and it appears that he didn't bring his rose with him. Thank goodness, that would not be good to have his life still tied to a flower.

He seemed to be staring at me as if realizing that I could actually see him. Maybe he had tried to talk to me before and realized I couldn't see him. He had probably been tied to the lighter too. I don't know, I don't do all that paranormal shit - it was confusing at the best of times. He gulped and opened his mouth to speak "Karma? You can see me?" I smiled. I had told him my real name right before he died so that's why he didn't call me Ib like all of the other people I had met in the painting. I smiled up at him and began to take steps towards him.

"I go by Rin now Garry. Some issues popped up, I'll fill you in on it later ok?" I smiled up at him again. Despite the strange situation I had to say I was really happy that he was here. He seemed to sense what I was thinking and immediately opened his arms to me. I couldn't hold back anymore and I ran to him and collapsed into his arms. He made me feel safe even now. I know back when I was a little kid I was literally swallowed by his embrace but now I seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. I felt his chin rest on my head as he held me and I couldn't help but cry softly into his chest.

It had been too long and I thought he was dead. I could sense Yukio's growing frustration while everyone else in the class was just oddly silent. I could tell they were confused as to what was happening in front of them. I couldn't blame them either, I would be very confused if Shiemi for example, had summoned a humanoid demon and talked to it as if she knew it. It certainly would be confusing for me. Soon Garry began to release from the hug and I rubbed my eyes to clear them of tears.

I could tell that my eyes were a little puffy but right now it didn't really matter. I latched onto Garry and turned towards my brother and Shura. "Um... We are going to leave now. I'm really sorry but we haven't seen each other in so long and we really need to catch up. Yukio I will write you an essay later upon the art of summoning can you please please please let me go?" I begged. Yukio looked pretty angry and like he wouldn't allow Garry and I to leave when Shura decided that would be a good time to speak up. 

"Sure kid you go on ahead we'll see you tomorrow on time though for your first mission. Now run along before I change my mind!" I beamed at her and dragged Garry away from the classroom so we could catch up back at my dorm room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	9. Hello Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Garry P.O.V

As soon as we made it back to Karma's dorm room we fell over laughing. The situation we had found ourselves in was so odd... and the face that Karma's little brother made when that woman, Shura I believe it was, allowed us to leave was absolutely priceless. It was so perfect, he looked like he would explode from anger. After we had gotten over our giggles I took the time to examine his room. Sure I had been in here before but only briefly and I never had time to actually take in the room. I saw his bush of blue and red roses sitting on his desk and I couldn't help but smile sadly at them. Then I turned to his wall of canvases.

Every time I had a chance to look at his work it never ceased to amaze me. He really was such an amazing artist. There was no other thing you could say. I admired all the new things he had added to the painting until my eyes finally came to rest upon my portrait and the little red-headed boy that sat sobbing in front of it. I stretched my hand out and lightly brushed my fingers against the tear tracks that covered his cheeks. The little boy looked so heartbroken and I couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving him all over again. I turned to see him standing behind me smiling sadly at me.

He held a look of understanding on his face as if he could hear what I was thinking. But there was something in his eyes that was the same as when he first met me. It was love, but now it seemed that it had evolved from the childlike fascination into actual romantic feelings, and they were directed at me. I didn't lie to myself about my feelings, I had been harboring strong feelings for Karma for years... I was just happy that he returned them you know? I walked towards him and leaned down for a kiss. He looked up at me in shock before closing his eyes and deepening the kiss. He smiled at me when we broke he kiss as I held him in my arms. Now you might call it weird but since I am technically dead or a demon I don't age past 18 because that's the age I died at. Now for Karma, he would continue to age, but just slower than your average human.

"I love you," I whisper to him as I looked down at him. 

He smiled and stood on the tips of his toes to peck me on the lips again before responding with; "and I love you, my lovely blue rose!" I smiled at his nick name for me. It was cheesy but quite cute all the same. I blushed lightly at his confession before I lead the 2 of us over to his bed to catch up. I knew all about his life so far, as I had been following him since he had left the world of Gehenna and I guess that I would be the one who would be doing much of the explaining in this situation.

I laid back on his bed and pulled him up to lay on my chest. He snuggled down as he waited for me to speak. "Now Karma you don't need to explain anything to me ok? I know about everything and I won't judge you for any of it. Ok? I know you did what you had to do and what came naturally." I smiled gently at him as he looked up at me with watery eyes. "Now just listen to me as I explain everything ok?" He nodded and rested his head against my chest again and closed his eyes. He was so cute sometimes.

"After you had taken the lighter from my pocket I found that I had a sort of out of body experience and I came to the obvious conclusion that I was a ghost. So being the logical person I was I followed you out of the painting. I followed you throughout your life and basically stayed with you up until a few weeks ago. After I learned that you would be becoming an exorcist and that you had completed all the tests but once I knew you would want to be a Tamer so I became a demon. Don't ask me how - it is a very complicated process and it involves a lot of messy details."

(The truth is that I didn't actually know how I came back. One day I was just there, and that uncertainty is kind of terrifying. But Karma shouldn't have t worry about any of that, so I don't mention it.)

"Once I had done that I began to practice with my demonic powers. Hey, if I'm going to be your summon I would need some pretty cool powers to be worthy of the Paladin. Now I'll tell you all that I can do so you can plan your next course of action ok? Let's see, when I became a demon I acquired a vast amount of power I had no idea I had the potential for. I discovered soon that I can transform into one of those little disturbing dolls that were in that room. You thought that they were bunnies but I hate to break it to you but they definitely weren't. You just saw it that way because you were 9 years old and Mary wanted you to see that."

"I can also create multiple dolls that will follow my commands. One of my coolest powers I think is the ability to enter and hide in any art piece. That includes tattoos. You can't even tell that I've hidden or passed through the art piece. As long as it's a form of art then I can hide amongst it." I said in a calm tone. I could practically hear Karma thinking as I explained everything to him. He sat up off of me and I sat up as well. 

He looked over at me thinking hard and said after a while "I think I want to get another tattoo." He said quietly.

I, of course, flipped out "Karma why would you ever want to ink your skin again! You're way too young for any of this! Why would you ever do that!!!" I exclaimed in shock. He smiled and giggled at my antics. 

"Well Garry, it's so you can hide in one of my tattoos that I got especially for you! I know you could probably hide in my other ones but I think I would like to get another one based off of your demonic qualities." I groaned, if there was one thing that I had learned about Karma during my years following him around is that once he got an idea in his head then he would follow through with it no matter what. That's also how he ended up trying to burn down the blasted painting.

I say tried because it didn't work. Karma had left almost as soon as he saw the painting catch on fire, but when he had returned the next day to make sure it had been burned, no damage had happened to the painting or surrounding area. It was as if it was protected somehow. Karma hadn't been too happy to discover that. Anyway, after much nagging on his part, I finally agreed to also get the blasted tattoo. And so half an hour later he was dragging me out to Purgatory to get our matching tattoos done by Sai. He was just as amazing an artist as Karma, so if we were to trust anyone with this design it would be him.

I sighed in exasperation, despite my earlier complaints the tattoo design was not bad at all. In fact, I quite like it and that is one of the reasons I agreed to this crazy idea in the first place. The design that Karma had created while he was trying to persuade me to get one along with him was simple yet strangely perfect. The design was the summoning circle that he had drawn earlier today but with a disturbing doll sitting on the circle like it was a swing. The doll, of course, wore a little green dress and had bright red eyes. Since it was a tattoo, we would be coloring the circle too, so it wouldn't be exactly like the summoning circle that he had used earlier today.

The roses that went around the circle we agreed would be yellow because we weren't the ones who had created those dolls that I now possessed control over. It was certainly odd to have a tribute to Mary on our skin but without her, we wouldn't have met. Somehow he had also convinced me to let him get a couple cartilage piercings. He got two hoops on the top of his right ear and got a piercing on the left ear lobe. He put a simple earring with a cross on it. Despite popular belief, the cross didn't really bother summoned demons so I was safe.

By the time we had gotten out of the club and were walking back to the dorm, it was late at night. We walked and laughed about silly little things all the way back to the dorms. Karma was as always making fun of me for being my cowardly self. I knew that the tattoos would hurt but I didn't expect them to tickle! It's not my fault I sat giggling the entire time that Sai did my tattoo. We finally arrived back at our dorm only to hear a big commotion as if a bunch of people were suddenly trying to be quiet. I sighed and traveled through the artwork in the dorm to the room that the noise came from. When I came back to myself Karma looked at me questioningly. "Looks like your cram school buddies will be sleeping over. And they are waiting in your room" I said grimly. He groaned but we pushed ahead anyway.

 

* * *

 

Yukio P.O.V

I stood fuming in front of the class. Who was that man and why did he seem to know my brother better than me?! It was absolutely ridiculous! He was a demon no way could he know my brother. And what on earth did Rin mean when they needed to catch up. What did they need to catch up on? Why did that man or 'Garry' as Rin called him, call Rin 'Karma'? Maybe he went by a different name before he came to live with me but he would have told me that right? He trusted me enough to at least do that, right?

I turned my glare over to Shura. What on earth possessed her to allow them to leave? We clearly weren't done class and she just let Rin go with an unknown demon. "Why on earth did you think that that was a good idea?!" I hissed angrily at her not even caring what the other students thought. 

She looked at me for a minute before saying "don't tell me you've never seen the brats painting he named the Forgotten Portrait. This man was clearly him, so I thought he might have a connection."

I took a deep breath and tried to think about it logically. It was true that I had seen the painting and the teen did look exactly like him but that just made it all the more suspicious right. But some things began to click together in my head the more I thought about them. Rin did act really weird and he had a lot of secrets. I had gone through his notebook once while he was asleep and found a bunch of disturbing drawings. There were many weird depictions of a small 11-year-old girl that had long curly blonde hair and cruel blue eyes. Some pictures had her caressing a yellow rose, others had her mutilating a mannequin head with a pallet knife and one was even her psychotically ripping the blue petals off a rose. I figured that the blue rose was a metaphor for the Forgotten Portrait considering the fact that they both had blue roses.

Other sketches that he had done were of the teen in the painting. He, like the little blonde girl that was always titled Mary, was also caressing a rose but instead of yellow, the teen was always seen caressing a blue rose. In every scene that the teen popped up in he was always holding a blue rose. I had a feeling that the girl Mary, had in some way heavily injured the teen judging by the ferocity with which she was ripping the flower petal from the blue rose. But one thing that confused me was Rin said he had a sister named Mary that had been possessed by Satan and had killed his adoptive family.

Maybe she hadn't just killed his family or maybe the teen was his older brother. But he had never mentioned a brother. And something still nagged at me because some of the drawings that held actual people not just sketches of demons or some nightmarish monster that looked like art pieces also held a little boy that looked like a younger version of Rin. I was deep in thought when I heard Shiemi ask the question we were all probably thinking. "W-what just happened?"

Her voice was quiet but still held a level of confidence that I found oddly attractive. No Yukio, bad thoughts you shouldn't even be thinking of things like that right now. There is too much to deal with already. "Well, I for one think that we just witnessed a very important moment in history," Konekomaru said in his matter of fact voice that all the others liked to call his nerd voice. "Clearly Rin knew this man named Garry, and we all know he had no knowledge of the demon world before he came to True Cross so that rules out him knowing a demon. So obvious logic points to Garry having been dead for some time. Rin had said that it had been a while since they had seen each other after he had a cry on the man’s chest."

"That little fact there supports the fact that this man was dead before today. As we all should know there have only been 3 occurrences of this phenomenon and none in the last 100 years." Konekomaru finished. I had to say it did make sense. Rin appeared to associate blue roses with Garry and one day I found him outside burning a blue rose. He also had tattoos of blue roses on the lower half of his arm indicating that Garry probably meant a great deal to him. It would appear that we got lucky and didn't have to deal with a revenge-driven demon.

I thought hard and then looked at everyone else's confused faces. "Hey how about you all sleep over at our dorm tonight. That way we can all question Rin and Garry and I can inform everyone of the mission we will be undertaking tomorrow." I said to all the cram students and they nodded at my idea. "I'll let you all out early so that you can pack you things. We will be leaving directly from our dorms tomorrow morning so pack you gear as well." The students nodded and soon it was just Shura and me in the room. I turned towards her and told her to inform Karasuma-san about what we would be doing. It only made sense that he should be included too, seeing as he would be the one giving us our mission.

He, unfortunately, would not be accompanying us seeing as he had a mission the same time as ours but he would need to be at the dorm tonight both to help us question Rin and because I still hadn't been informed of what our mission included. For once Shura didn't seem to find the need to antagonize me and went to do as I asked right away. I had to say I was grateful, too much had just happened for me to be able to deal with her antics diplomatically. I sighed and grabbed my bag and headed to the dorm. I arrived at the dorms before anyone else so, I began to pack my gear as well.

I didn't hear any noises and it seems that Garry and Rin had left the building not long ago to go who knows where. I hope they would be back later and at least eat something. Rin was skinny enough; I had to make sure that he ate what he cooked. He ate whenever he was in front of me and yet it still didn't seem to do him any good. I finished packing my bag as well as changed into some more comfortable clothes and set it on my desk inside my room and patiently waited for the others to arrive. Maybe 15 minutes later, I heard a knocking (more like pounding) on the door. I hurried over and opened the door.

All of the cram school students along with Shura and Karasuma-san stood outside of my door in casual outfits or for Shura and Karasuma-san, their usual outfits. I let them in and showed the students and Shura into the rooms they would be staying in. Then after they had all set their things in the rooms we gathered in Rin's room and sat down in different places around the room. Ranging from the floor, bed, desk chair and some even leaned against the walls.

I hadn't really been in Rin's room until now and I had to say I was a bit shocked to find it so neat. Once you had gotten to know Rin a little better you could see past his ikemen mask into the lazy ass that hated cleaning. Despite his apparent hate for cleaning everything in his room was in order. His desk was neatly organized with supplies and stacks of paper on one side of the desk and his book bag sat in the center. There was the potted rose that Shiemi's mother had given him a couple weeks ago when we had helped Shiemi. It seemed he had taken great care of it and it had blossomed well under his care. He had an easel and stool in one corner of the room sitting beside some supplies that looked to be for making rose water with. And on the one wall where there was a giant wall of canvas that looked to have been tapped up.

On the canvas was a huge unfinished mural. On the top left corner was a weird octopus monster and a class and someone who looked almost exactly like Karasuma-san. It was obviously a scene from some shonen manga considering the weird octopus monster/teacher thing. Above them was the crescent moon. In the bottom left corner was more of those nightmarish artwork monsters. They blended into the demons that occupied the bottom right corner. There was every kind of demon imaginable mixed into that collage.

And above those demons near the top right corner was us in our gear. We were standing in a similar way to what the weird manga characters were and just above our heads where the crescent moon was on the opposite corner was a yellow smiley face spray painted on along with some basic graffiti and what looked to be a gang tattoo. I recognized it from one alley way in the city. It was said that was where Purgatory was located but I never bothered to see if it was actually there. In between the two classes was a blank space (how I could tell it was unfinished) and in the center, there was the oddest scene yet.

There was what appeared to be an art gallery wall with a single painting on the wall. It was the Forgotten Portrait, looks like he had found a way to incorporate his most beloved art piece. And one of the most disturbing thing in this painting sat below the portrait. Rin had painted a little boy clutching a lemon candy and a lighter crying his eyes out in front of the painting. That was certainly unsettling and somewhat ruined the beauty and other-worldliness of the mural.

I had to say it certainly was an interesting concept that he had painted. On the easel sat a simple watercolor painting of 3 roses. The red one looked to be full of life but at the same time held a weird sadness to it. The blue one to its left was losing all its petals. The petals rested on the ground underneath the floating roses and a couple petals were in the process of falling. The final rose that was on the right of the red rose was yellow and was so perfect it looked to be fake. It held itself like one of the plastic roses that you could buy at a convenience store and nothing at all like the red rose which was clearly real and alive. It was also an odd painting but I had a feeling that Rin had been inspired by Guertena.

We all sat in silence waiting for Rin and his demon to come home from wherever they were only to end up having a little break. Since none of us were amazing cooks we ended up just ordering a pizza and then when we were finished going back up to Rin's room to wait. I could tell that the others were very interested in what Rin's room was like. "Those roses, are a very odd thing for a teenage boy to paint. And it's beautifully done," remarked Izumo after we had spent another 30 minutes in silence.

That seemed to have sparked the conversation. Soon we were all sharing our opinions on Rin and his weird habits. "Have any of you actually seen anything he's drawing in that sketchbook of his?" Shima asks loudly. 

"Yeah he just draws pictures of that teen in the portrait and of a little girl in a green dress." Izumo said. 

"I've seen him drawing demons" Konekomaru pipped up.

"Seems your lucky, the one time he showed me one of his drawings it was of a woman who was crawling out of a painting and snarling," remarked Bon. We all looked over at the painted version of what Bon described. It certainly was creepy.

"Hey Okumura-sensei," Shima said, "do you have any idea what his tattoos are for? And what’s underneath those armbands? Do you think he's hiding something?" 

I had to think about this "Now, that I think about it, I have never seen him without those armbands and that weird amulet that he never takes off. Nii-san has a lot of secrets and he hasn't shared many of them with me." I said quietly. 

Bon looked at me confused. "Wait didn't you 2 grow up together?" Bon questioned. I could only shake my head in the negative. 

"No. Father Fujimoto said he couldn't handle the both of us especially since Rin was a very destructive child. So instead he gave up Rin for adoption when we were 6. Only a couple months ago I found out that he had been struck by tragedy. It seems Satan had possessed his sister and used her body to kill his adoptive family."

The others looked horrified to find out that was the reason that he ended up going to True Cross. Rin had told them that he had a good reason for wanting to become an exorcist, but it seems that up until now they thought it was because I was an exorcist. "The Vatican had then notified us that he would come to live with us once he had finished the school year which was only another couple of days anyway. In fact, he used to go to Kunugikaoka. Believe it or not, he was also the top student despite being in Class E." I said proudly.

One thing I was very proud of was my brother’s intelligence. He oozed it effortlessly. "Hey wait I've heard of that school's Class E." Bon spoke. "I heard that the dumbest and worst students of the school got shoved to that class where they were supposed to ultimately fail like every other year. But that year something changed. All the members of Class E somehow made a comeback and ended up being in the top 40 students in the final exams." 

Konekomaru looked deep in thought. "Hey, if Okumura-kun was really smart then why did he end up being kicked to Class E."

I sighed this was something I constantly felt both proud and angry about. "Nii-san got booted to Class E because he beat up a student from Class A for bullying someone form Class E." I revealed. I was both proud that he stood up for the Class E student and angry that he got into a fight. It just revealed his demonic nature more and more. I couldn't help but resent him slightly for being so demonic despite how much I loved him. Throughout the entire conversation about Kunugikaoka’s Class E, Karasuma-san seemed oddly quiet. Suddenly I heard laughing and I rushed to the window to see Rin and the man walking down the street. I quickly shushed everyone and said they were here. Things were about to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	10. Interrogation and Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds  
> Song 1: Puppet by invertqueen7's channel  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx1ES2CnaRU

Bon P.O.V

We all waited in tense silence as we heard the door slam shut and loud laughter being spilled through the hallways as it got nearer and nearer. The approaching footsteps grew louder and we all held our breaths as Rin opened the door. He opened the door wide and seemed genuinely surprised at the fact that we were all waiting in his room for him. It seems that like us he had also changed into casual clothes before leaving the dorm. He wore a simple black form-fitting black tank top that showed off his chocolate abs as well as his tattoos. The demon behind him was still dressed the same way but it seems he had left his coat here judging by the way it was slung over the bed.

They both seemed to have gotten tattoos too. Rin had his on his other arm that wasn't inked already, on his upper arm. The demon, Garry I think I remembered Rin saying, had his on the side of his neck. They were matching tattoos of the summoning circle Rin had used to summon Garry but in color. It also had a disturbing doll sitting in the circle like it was a tire swing. The roses around the circle were a bright yellow color and the doll was a blue but not as nice a blue as the roses on Rin's arm. It was more like a faded fabric blue. It had navy blue almost black hair and big red eyes. It also wore a green dress which looked weird on the doll but I really couldn't think of anything else that would look good on that horrendously creepy doll.

Rin also seemed to have gotten a couple piercings in his ears. He had pierced the upper part of his right ear that was strangely pointed twice and wore a pair of simple metal hoops in it. He had also pierced the left earlobe and put a simple cross earring in it. I had to say the piercings actually suited him. The surprise on both the demon's face and Rin's quickly wore off into annoyance and then acceptance. He seemed to understand that with the way that they had left the classroom that we would be curious as to what it was all about. He sighed and pulled the stool that was in front of the rose painting to the center of the wall of canvas that he had tapped up and sat down on it.

His demon companion sat on the floor beside him folding his long legs so that he fit as close to Rin as possible. The demon was quite tall I had to say. The paintings behind them also made me do a double take. Now the little boy crying in front of the portrait looked a lot like a younger version of Rin. It was certainly weird seeing the people in the painting sitting in front of it. I suppose it's like seeing someone holding up their self-portrait and taking a picture with it. When I had first walked into Rin's room I had been shocked at just how artistic he was and I was very creeped out by all the monsters he had painted into that mural. The monsters other than demons looked so unrealistic but at the same time reminded me of some famous artist that I had seen in a gallery as a child.

It was all very similar to his work. I believe that woman crawling out of the painting looks a lot like Guertena's Lady in Red. It was oddly fascinating maybe Rin looked up to the guy. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing I had and would find out today. Rin seemed to sigh before he turned and looked at all of us. "Well," he said, "get on with it. I know you all have questions and I will do my best to answer them all." He said while making a circular motion with his right hand. 

Shura was the first one to ask a question "Is that man that showed up when you tried to summon a demon the one that's in that painting?" She asked in a strong voice. 

"Why yes, yes he is. Oh, and before we continue his name is Garry so please refer to him by his name. He is a person." Rin replied. 

Konekomaru seemed to gather the courage to ask the next question "This one is directed more to Garry than it is to you Rin so, were you originally human before you died and became a demon?" he asked, directing his voice both to Rin and to Garry. 

Garry smiled and seemed to appreciate being acknowledged by someone other than Rin "Why yes I was. you see Rin grew up in an unsafe area and we were best friends until we were something more," at that Rin seemed to blush as he lightly smacked Garry's shoulder, "then we were getting mugged at gunpoint and the man shot and I took the bullet for Rin." Garry finished his tale.

Konekomaru looked shocked at the in-depth answer as to the reasons that he held on to Rin and was able to transfer from ghost to demon. Garry smiled softly at his expression and said "We won't hide from you unless it is absolutely necessary. We will do our best to answer all of your questions as best as we can so don't feel afraid to ask something personal." 

Izumo seemed to ponder this before she blurted out "So then are you 2 dating or are you just 'friends'?" she asked bluntly. Rin certainly seemed shocked that she of all people would ask that question. But he did nod his head in affirmation.

I was certainly shocked at this. I had no idea that Rin was actually gay. He seemed like a completely straight man considering the way he handles his group of fangirls that he's gained by being smart and nice at school. I always thought that he was only into girls. At this revelation, Yukio seemed to practically turn red. I couldn't help but snicker quietly at his reaction. He looked about ready to burst out saying some bullshit about how Rin shouldn't be dating and it was very funny considering the fact that he was the younger twin. Yukio despite being enraged was able to ask the next question.

"Why are you hiding so much from us and never told us the whole truth?" He demanded angrily. Rin seemed to ponder this for some time before looking directly at Karasuma-sensei as he said "well I was involved with the government in a top secret operation and I had to make a cover story because they won't allow me to inform you of what happened unless it is absolutely necessary. Karasuma-sensei can vouch for that." 

We all turn to him expecting him to disagree with Rin but to our surprise, he said "It's true, I was his... instructor if you will, during the top-secret mission ordered by the government. It will do none of you any good to know about it now. Perhaps we will share this information with you when it becomes relevant." He calmly said.

Yukio seemed displeased with that answer but he held his tongue. I thought about all the possible things we had left to find out. "What does your amulet mean?" I asked from where I sat at his desk. 

He seemed to brighten. "Well one of my friends I met in the super-secret mission - I had actually been friends with him before but we actually got close during the mission - made this for all of the people who were part of the mission. Karasuma-sensei has one too." he said while smiling softly. We once again looked over expectantly at Karasuma-sensei and he sighed in exasperation before he pulled an amulet out from where it had been hidden under his shirt.

It was identical to the one that Rin was wearing. "Hey, brat you know that day I came to pick you up from school so that I could help ya get your affairs in order to go live with scaredy cat four eyes here? Who was that skank that glomped you?" Shura demanded. Rin turned to Karasuma-sensei and we all followed his gaze to see Karasuma-sensei glaring at her. 

"That skank as you'd call her, is my girlfriend" he growled out. "She's also a foreign master assassin that they called in just for the mission," Rin added and I saw Shura gulp.

"Hey Rin," Shiemi said in her usual quiet yet cheerful voice. "What do each of your tattoos mean?" Rin held out his arm so that we could all see what was tattooed on it clearly. 'The red roses I guess you could say are my... symbol." He said while pointing to his upper arm. "As I'm sure you've figured out Garry's is blue roses, so when after he died and when I was finally old enough I got these two done. Then he turned his arm over so that we could see his wrist. Among the thorny vines that curved around his small wrist was 2 simple words written in a childish scrawl.

"Fabricated World," Rin said in a wistful voice. "Well, I just have a very important memory associated with these words. I don't think it's important for you to know now though." Then he held out his other arm and showed us the tattoo that was definitely not there the night before. "Well, Garry and I got this for convenience if you will. Garry has a specific power that no other demon possesses. He is able to 'hide' amongst any art piece even tattoos and since I have no plans at all of un-summoning him and there is nothing you can do to tell me otherwise, I got a special tattoo for him to hide in so it won't be suspicious or anything to have a humanoid demon walking with us on an exorcist mission."

I took in all of this information and I had to say it certainly did make a lot of sense. Now that some of the mystery surrounding both today’s events and Rin himself was lifted I was able to think more about how things were all connected. "Hey Okumura," I said "why did Garry call you Karma? I thought you were always a Rin." When I mentioned this Rin turned and glared at Garry for his apparent slip-up. "Well I really shouldn't be saying this but Karma was my code name when I was on the mission. I had just begun the mission when Garry died. It was the first slip up I made and I made sure it was the last." He said with conviction.

I felt bad for Rin. I mean he blamed himself for Garry's death all of this time, how was he able to smile so much? It must have been so hard to be hurting so much and still be able to smile like nothing was ever wrong. He was incredibly strong and I hate to say it but stronger than I could ever be. It just made me want to work harder oddly enough. Our questioning session had run about 15 more minutes but we didn't really find out anything interesting other than the reason for his apparent love of lemon candies.

Once we had finished that we turned to Karasuma-sensei who we were told by Yukio would inform us of the details of the mission. He pulled out a file like from one of those spy movies out from nowhere and handed it over to Rin to look over as he began to speak. I could tell that that action heavily annoyed Okumura-sensei considering he was the main teacher and he wasn't handed the important information. "This mission should be pretty simple but you should never underestimate any mission no matter how simple it looks."

He warned us and I couldn't help but feel like something would go wrong on this mission. "We will be going to investigate a local art gallery that has recently been having problems with people disappearing in the gallery. They were unable to find any of them and the owner who is a retired exorcist thinks that there might be demon interference. Our job is to find out what's been causing the disappearances and hopefully put a stop to it before it claims another life. The only clues that they have so far are colored roses left at the front of one of the larger paintings. All of their petals looked to have been torn off and were resting on the ground." He said. 

I looked over to see what Rin's reaction to the file was and found him having a hurried conversation with Garry as he pointed to different things in the file. Garry looked very worried but Rin seemed to dismiss it with a look that said we'll be careful and that there shouldn't be any need to worry. With a quick nod from Karasuma-sensei, he turned the file around so that we could see it. Inside were a bunch of different pictures of roses with their oddly colored petals ripped out.

There was also notes about times the victims were last seen and any other evidence that the client deemed useful. It all honestly looked like a bunch of gibberish to me. "Since all of the disappearances happened during the daytime and during the gallery hours we should all head in at the opening time and just spend the day there. We definitely shouldn't separate since this seems to be a kidnapping situation."

I thought about it. "Hey, but wouldn't it be better if there was someone who did not get kidnapped?" I asked him. Rin just shook his head and said "we've dealt with something like this before, believe me when I say there is no way to save someone from the outside. It would be safer if we were together because we know just a bit more than you do in this situation so please just stick with us." I was a bit alarmed at his answer. What did he know about this that we didn’t? I assume because he didn't say anything it means that we don't need to know yet.

That's really beginning to piss me off. I don't like being left in the dark especially by some guy that I met only 2 weeks ago. I sighed and stood up. Since it was a local art gallery and it doesn't open until 10 in the morning Rin had told us that he would make breakfast at 9:00 and that it would be best if we got up earlier than that to get ready. We bid our goodbyes to Karasuma-sensei and then headed to bed as it was pretty late at night.

 

* * *

 

Rin/Ib P.O.V

I sighed as the last person left my room. It had been a very long day. I changed from my day clothes and turned to ask Garry if he wanted to sleep in some of my extra clothes but when I turned around he was just in his boxers, his clothes folded neatly and resting on my desk chair. Garry patted the spot int he bed and I gladly cuddled up to him. He was warm and he held me close to him as we huddled under the covers. It had been so long since someone had just held me. The last time I had actually been hugged was actually by Garry when I was 9 years old. Soon I drifted off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

_I was walking down a dark hallway and I was all alone. I had no idea where I was but I had my red rose back in my hands. So I could only assume that I was somehow trapped in Guertena's world. I heard a splat from behind me and when I looked back behind me I saw words painted on the walls. Or at least what I thought was paint. What I saw was even more horrifying. There lay a gallery guest on the ground and the Lady in Red sat beside her._

_The gallery guest’s neck was twisted at an awkward angle so she could look back at me with her big dull brown eyes. They stared at me with an unblinking gaze and one of her arms lay across her chest. The other one lay on the ground clutching what looked to be a light violet rose. She had blonde hair but more of a dirty blonde than Mary's blonde. I could tell by the flower petals that lay on the ground that this woman was dead._

_The Lady in Red was scraping her nails on the wall as she finished a letter on the wall. Then she turned to look at me and grinned. There was a red substance that dripped from her mouth and her teeth were dyed red. I looked over at the dead gallery woman and saw that he stomach had been forcibly ripped open by a dull blunt object. Her insides spilled out all over the floor and all over the Lady in Red._

_She grinned as she licked her fingers trying in vain to get the blood and guts off of her ruined fingernails. She pointed with one of her blood-soaked hands at the wall where there was the red substance dripping down from the wall. There was dripping red letter painstakingly scratched into the wall by the lady's nails. It spelled out 3 simple words. "Welcome back. Ib" the 'b' of my name leading on a strange diagonal towards the massacre on the floor._

_The Lady in Red had finished her attempt at cleaning her hands of the blood and was now looking directly at me. She smiled a sickening smile at me and suddenly began to claw her way towards me. She dragged herself over the dead body that was between the painting and me. I found myself stumbling backward only to trip and fall into a puddle of something. When I looked at what I had tripped over. I was horrified by what I saw._

_I had tripped over another body of some unfortunate gallery guest. This time it was a male with black hair and his eyes were closed. His neck had also been broken but his limbs had been severed from his body allowing blood to ooze out of his corps. He had been mutilated recently judging by the fact that blood was still oozing from his corpse. I lifted my arm from where I had been using it to support myself when I fell to see that the puddle of liquid I fell in had been his blood._

_Suddenly I felt something grab my ankle. I looked down to see that the Lady in Red had taken advantage of my momentary distraction and had crawled her way over to me. I felt her broken and ragged nails scrape against my leg as she crawled closer to me. I found myself paralyzed for an unknown reason as she crawled closer. I held my rose close to my chest as she gripped my right leg in both of her hands. With a quick motion, she snapped the bones in my leg._

_I screamed in agony as I felt my bones shatter in her hands. She smiled at my pain and crawled even closer before I suddenly felt more hands pushing me down into the puddle of blood. When I looked I saw a Lady in Blue holding me down and smirking evilly down at me. She held me down with one hand while she lifted up her second high in the air. Her nails were sharp like claws as she brought them down to my chest. She began ripping at my flesh as if trying to rip out my heart._

_It lasted so long, just the 2 Ladies ripping at my skin all the while laughing maniacally. When suddenly I heard a childish laugh break through the pain. The ladies stopped their tormenting and turned to look down the hallway. I too began to look where they were staring and I was horrified by what I saw. There was a horribly burned Mary limping towards me. She had an awful smile on her face and held a pallet knife in one hand and her fake rose in the other._

_'"IIIIIIIIIIIIIbbbbbbbbb" she giggled "don't you want to come and play again? We had soooooooo much fun last time didn't we?" She took a couple more steps towards me as she began to sing a little melody to herself. I recognized it almost instantly as the song that I had made about her. How did she know about her[theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx1ES2CnaRU)?_

_Welcome to my world that's painted with sadness_

_There's no light of sun There you can't hear any sound at all_

_Here I'm waiting silently for you, father_

_Why were you so cruel to leave poor Mary alone?_

_lalala..._

_Please take me away, I desperately promise to be a good girl, to be worthy of your love_

_I don't need the paint, books, the dolls, and the dresses,_

_Just tell me, why you've left your pictures and gone?_

_lalala..._

_Who are you stranger, with a red rose in your hand_

_I liked you from the first sight, I wanna be your friend, Let's play_

_I've never asked for this place that's called my home,_

_But hope, you will be staying with me until the end_

_lalala..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	11. Welcome to the World of Guertena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds  
> Song 1: Ib Again by SirHamnet  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5bD5yU4OtM

Rin/Ib P.O.V

I woke with a start. I sat straight up in my bed with arms around my waist. I almost had a panic attack before I remembered where I was. I was safe and in my dorm room with Garry. I was not trapped inside the gallery and Mary was dead right? It had all just been a nightmare, right? I was ok. I was ok. I was ok. 

There was no Mary or anyone of the sort after me right now. And most importantly I wasn't injured in any way. I groaned as I realized that I woke up an hour earlier than I usually do. What was I supposed to do at 5 in the morning with a dorm full of sleeping people?

I sighed. I had no idea what I would do until 6 but ah well. I knew that most of the people in the dorm would wake up at around 8 so I'd give them plenty of time to shower while I worked on cooking and packing supplies in cleverly hidden places. I would make sure to tell everyone to pack some sort of weapon in their clothes. I knew that if we did indeed get sent to the Fabricated World then we would have some weapons on us. I had a feeling that it wouldn't be the same as when I first entered it.

I hadn't felt hunger last time and I had no idea how long I had been there nor how long Garry had been in there before me but I would tell Garry to bring some of the lemon candies that I had in my desk. I had made them a week ago and they were packed full of energy and it would sate your hunger and fulfill all of your bodies needs for a single day. They were good to bring on missions.

I would give some to each member of the mission but both Garry and I would have extras. There's no telling how long we'd be trapped inside that horrible world so I would have to be prepared. From the fact that I had had my handkerchief and Garry had had his candy, lighter and wristwatch I could almost guarantee that we would keep anything that was on our person when we went into the world.

I knew that we would end up going to that world again but this time I want to be prepared. I remember everything about the place and also how to get out so we should be ok even though some of the memories were a bit fuzzy. But I had my doubts. At 6:30 I would go and shower and then put on my gear. At 7:30 I would wake Garry up and then I would ask him to look over the file again and see if there is anything that I missed while pouring over it last night. I would in the meantime begin to make all of the food that would be necessary to feed everyone and by the time I was done it would be 9. Hopefully, by then they would all be ready and we can spend the time we are eating on discussing more of the mission details.

We would leave the dorm at 9:30 and be able to walk to the Gallery in time for its opening. Then we would spend the day there until we were kidnapped. Now I know that we will be kidnapped too, it was inevitable but I had to pretend for them that we actually had a fighting chance. I figured we would be able to slice up the painting once they see what the world is really about.

They would definitely back up my decision to destroy the painting and we could probably do it with my demonic fire. I'll just say that the lighter has an extra kick to it and that's why it was light blue like Satan's flames. I'll just give them the scientific way to turn fire blue and say that's what Garry had filled the lighter up with approximately 6 years ago. Hopefully, they won't catch on to the fact that I am half demon yet. I was hoping that I could hold out a year here before they found out but I had a feeling that Mephisto was planning something. Could never trust that demon.

I began to paint some things to waste time. I had decided upon painting the crazed Lady in Red along with her sinister message. I sat at my easel and began to paint. Selecting the colors as I needed them. Soon I had a both lovely and sinister painting of the Lady in Red scratching "welcome back Ib' into the white walls of the fake gallery. I was very happy with my work but I soon realized I had a bunch of paint on both my arms as well as my face. (I never really understood why artist got paint on their faces until I touched my face and got it on my nose. No one told me for the rest of the day and I had no idea until I got home)

I checked the time to see that I had actually wasted a lot more time than I thought I would. It was about 7 in the morning when I began to shower all of the paint off. I had made sure to bring my gang outfit as well as everything I planned on hiding on my person (including Kurikara) with me when I went to get myself ready. After a short shower, I set about getting myself ready. Putting my metal armbands again and then putting on my gang outfit I set about fixing my appearance. I put on my amulet and fixed my earrings so that they wouldn't catch on my hair.

Then I dried my hair and fixed it so I didn't have bed head but it still looked spiky. I brushed my teeth and I began hiding my weapons. I put most of my knives in hidden pockets and in a hidden compartment in my shoes. Then I put on my whip/belt and then I slung my katana across my shoulder and slid my gun into my waistband underneath my top. Slipping my fingerless mesh gloves as well as my mock widow's bites on. Last but not least I shoved both some lemon candies, my phone and Garry's lighter into my tops pockets. I zipped them up to make sure that nothing would fall out of my pockets. Call me paranoid but I had good reason to be with my lifestyle.

Once I had gotten out of the bathroom I made my way silently back to my room and woke Garry up. He yawned like a little kitten and I couldn't help but think that his abs were hot! No bad Karma! You shouldn't be thinking that right now. Ughh what was I going to ask him again? Oh yeah to look over that file that Karasuma-sensei had left on my desk. I threw both his clothes and the file at him and told him to go take a shower and where the bathroom was. Calling over my shoulder to remind him about the file as I left the room to go get breakfast started.

I began sorting out the ingredients for breakfast and I also pulled out my giant bag of homemade lemon candies. I also made sure to get 9 bags ready. 8 of them were small little baggies while I made sure to make Garry's a little bigger because I knew that demons expended more energy than humans. Especially if they are summons because despite the fact that they were called to Asiah they are still not meant to be in this world so it was kind of like the universe was rejecting them. To combat this, all you needed to do was eat a couple of my lemon candies.

They provided enough energy to be able to sustain the demon and allow them to be able to fight. It was certainly a useful recipe I picked up from a demonic cookbook. Demons had their own cultural foods too and this one just happened to be edible for the people of Asiah too. I simply mixed it into a lemon candy recipe I found on the internet along with some rose extract for some scent. They tasted rather good and I was proud of my creation.

I heard an alarm blare and a thump as someone fell over. Muffled curse words rang through the air as I heard multiple feet shuffle around on the floor above. Looks like someone's alarm woke everyone up. I head a particularly loud grumble and laughed to myself softly. Must've woken Yukio too. Whoever set the alarm would have to deal with Yukio's death glare for the rest of the morning, or at least until he got his coffee.

Speaking of coffee I quickly put a pot on. I can't believe I almost forgot to. I quietly began to sing another song I had written after leaving the Fabricated World. It was called "[Again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5bD5yU4OtM)".

 

_In a world I had never known._

_Colors were scattered, ripped apart, broken._

_Trapped on with the doomed and the dead._

_Was a single rose of vivid red._

_Even through the pain I could barely bear._

_Even through the noise that kept peace at bay._

_Even through all the distorted despair._

_Having you with me took it all away._

_Ah~ and inside this dream._

_Ah~ the love we drew it seemed._

_That we could melt away into this painting._

_Where do I hear a wandering spirit?_

_Let's put some honey here, to lure it!_

_With no kindness left in her soul._

_Was a single rose of deep yellow._

_Promise that we'll stay here together for always._

_Let's commit to this fate la la la la la la la la la la la._

I sang lightly to myself using a slightly more childish voice while singing Mary's part. I continued mixing and cooking breakfast while I hummed the instrumental break. I heard a deep baritone voice continue to sing the part I had written for Garry.

 

_But if I cannot save anybody._

_Without disappearing into the dark._

_Then I only ask that you would keep me._

_Among the drawings deep within your heart._

_Ah~ and now I noticed_

_Ah~ the thing that our love is_

_Missing is the color of the flowers secrets._

I turned around to see Garry all done with his morning routine. He had probably walked into the room while I had been singing Mary's part and decided to join in. I smiled at him as he finished the last line and sat down. Picking up my cue I continued singing Mary's part.

 

_Ah~ as for these memories_

_Ah~ they'll always stay with me_

_Etched onto my hearts canvas_

" _Hey_ " I sang towards him and he picked up his cue to sing " _isn't it_ " and we both came in together to sing " _Ib~_ " Smiling I finished up some of the last things we needed for breakfast.

 

_An amazing art gallery_

_The hand you held out to me_

_Gave a piece of lemon candy_

_As you smiled happily_

I finished letting the last note hang in the air. I smiled at him and kissed him lightly before going back to setting up the table so that we could all eat on it. I cleared the table of the school work that Yukio had carelessly left out and set all the food down in the center of the table. I placed a plate and some eating utensils in front of each chair.

I took a seat next to Garry as he loaded our plates with food. We ate in silence all the while looking over the file. We both knew that the second visit to Guertena's world was inevitable at this point and we were still trying to prepare ourselves mentally. It would be hard but we both remembered the way out and as long as we kept together things should be ok.

I would probably end up having to reveal my past with this world though. Yukio would be pissed yet again for me keeping secrets from him. I wonder how he will react when he finds out I am the Reaper or even what I did while in Class E. Yukio knows a lot less about me than he originally thought. I do feel kind of bad for having had to lie to all of them but I did what was necessary because I had no other choice. If they found out who I was they could become targets or they would think differently of me.

I sighed, I just knew that the reveal wouldn't work out well. At least I still had Class E. A couple minutes after 9 everyone came trickling into the room. Each was wearing different outfits and in various stages of awareness. They each grabbed a cup of coffee and a plate of food before they began to chow down. I took the time to examine everyone’s choice of gear.

Shiemi was not wearing a full-length kimono for once and had instead opted for a mini kimono-like top with elbow length sleeves and some shorts. They were both of light colors and had some floral patterning on them. She had on a pair of running shoes too. Izumo had decided to wear a light blue blouse that she tucked into her navy blue knee length skirt and some slip on pale blue shoes. Paku just wore a simple graphic T-shirt and some shorts with some basic converse that matched her outfit. Konekomaru seemed to like his uniform so he opted to wear it without the tie and jacket but kept his dress shoes. Shima wore some basketball shorts and a sleeveless muscle shirt with a pair of puma runners.

Bon had on his dress shirt unbuttoned over a simple white undershirt and he had the undershirt but not his dress shirt tucked into a pair of loose jeans with some sneakers on. For once Shura was also wearing acceptable clothes. She had on a simple blouse that flattered her rather well-developed bosom and some capris, overall she looked like the basic high school teacher. And Yukio had on his exorcist’s uniform and I would bet that we all would look pretty ridiculous together. We would probably pass as some public school students on a field trip, but people in art galleries usually weren't that nosy. I speak from experience, no one at all questioned why a 9-year-old was all alone and wandering through an art exhibit. No one.

Once everyone had seemed to finish eating, Garry and I cleaned up all of the dishes while I began to speak. "Remember your weapons and please don't have them out in the open. My katana can pass as an art bag but the rest of your weapons look a bit suspicious. Shima, I know that you can shrink that staff so please keep it in a pocket and the same goes for the rest of you. Do not give anything away. As far as people know we are simply public high school students. Let's keep it that way. Oh and do not ever wander off on your own. Being separated is never an advantage."

I heard them mumble in agreement as they began to conceal their weapons on their person. I handed each of them a bag of lemon candies and told them to hide that too considering we are not strictly allowed to bring food into the gallery. They nodded and soon we were off. It was a short walk to the gallery and we made it to the gallery about 15 minutes after opening.

We chatted amongst each other in false (on my part) and honest (it was their first mission after all) excitement as we entered the gallery. I couldn't help but want to cower as soon as we entered. The last time I had been in here was when I was 9 years old. Garry had opted to hide in my tattoo so it didn't look weird (considering he looked a bit intimidating and we were clearly first years) so I had no one to reassure me. I remained on edge the entire trip through the gallery. As we passed different art pieces my classmates kept making comments about the art.

We came to a stop in front of the Lady in Red. "Hey Okumura," Bon began, "doesn't she look like that nightmare lady you drew?" I scoffed at him but I inwardly felt uneasy. 

"Yeah I guess they do look similar" I admitted quietly. When we walked away from the portrait the eyes seemed to follow me. Everything in the gallery was exactly where I remembered it being and it was very unsettling to behold. Eventually, we made our way over to the Abyss of the Deep.

It was even creepier than when I first saw it as a kid. The fish seemed to be grinning up at us from the dark depths of the water. I shivered and walked a little closer to my group than I had before. And finally, we came to a stop in front of that awful painting. It was a long mess of colors but this time it seemed to hold more malice than it originally had. Yukio leaned forward to read the title of the painting out loud. "Fabricated World. This is the painting that all the roses were found under wasn't it. Hey, Nii-san don't you have this word tattooed on your wrist?" As soon as he had finished speaking I knew it was too late to back out now.

We were already trapped. The lights began to flicker and for some odd reason, there was no one in this area of the gallery. It was just us. The lights eventually went out and paint began to leak from the frame of the painting. Yukio jumped back in shock as the paint continued to drip out of the frame. Suddenly letters began to appear on the floor with a loud splat after each one. C O M E B A C K   I B was splattered on the floor in bright red paint.

Shura squinted at the floor confused, "Come back Ib" she read. "Wait who’s Ib?" she asked. I sighed and took a step away from everyone. 

"Welcome to the world of Guertena," I said in a calm low voice. "I would ask that you all call me Ib from here on out to avoid confusion. Now I believe it is my time to take charge of this mission as I, which I have stated before, have had the unfortunate experience of being trapped here before." I turned to look back at the paint dripping from the frame to see that it had changed into the words "come down below Ib, I'll show you a new secret" I sighed.

Turning back to my group I said: "follow me, once we've gotten this far the only way out is through." I turned and began to make my way back to the Abyss of the Deep. The others trailed behind me until we reached the painting. As there was last time, there were blue footprints made out of paint on the floor leading into the abyss. I took a step forward and called over my shoulder "we have to jump now so let's go."

I looked at the others to see their confused faces. Smiling softly I said, "I'll explain once we've arrived ok?" They nodded apprehensively but jumped into the water anyway. I soon followed and we were officially in the world of Guertena.

Once we had landed I sat everyone down in the hallway and began to explain. "Ok, I know you probably have some questions but listen to me before you begin to ask." I turned to look at Yukio before saying "please don't be mad at me for lying," then I continued with my explanation. "When I was 9 years old my adoptive parents had taken me to an art gallery. The same thing that had happened a few minutes ago had happened to me. If we had explored the rest of the gallery we would have found that there was no one there. After jumping into the abyss I journeyed through this world until I met Garry here."

"He helped me along and made sure I was safe whenever we were attacked. Attacked by what, you may be thinking, well this world isn't exactly all sugar and sweet things. It's filled with horrible monsters like the ones I draw in my notebook all of the time. They are real and they will try to kill you. That's why I asked you to bring your weapons. I have no idea what has changed since I've been here last but I can't imagine it's anything good."

"A while later Garry and I ran into a little girl around 11 years of age named Mary. Now we had thought that she was also a visitor from the gallery but we learned later on when Garry had been separated from us that she was a painting too. A creation and monster of this world. Oh and another important thing about his world. Your life will be tied to that of a rose and once it loses all of its petals it dies and you die, so take care of your rose once you get one."

"We had ditched Mary but she pushed us into the toy box and I ended up losing my rose. While we were looking for it, unfortunately, Mary seemed to have gotten a hold of it. Garry then traded his rose for mine and Mary killed him. I set her painting on fire but I am not sure if she is dead. After that, I escaped and made my way back into the real world through the painting. This will be the way we need to go so please follow me closely."

I finished explaining my tale and looked at them. They all had varying degrees of shock written on their faces. But judging by the looks they gave to the surrounding area they seemed to believe me. "Now if memory serves me right then there should be a vase around the corner so we should get our roses," I spoke as I stood up. "Are you ready?" I asked them as I prepared to leave the hallway. They nodded solemnly but with determination as they too stood up and we rounded the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	12. Roses and Paintings and Bugs, Oh My!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Ib P.O.V

When I rounded the corner, I was shocked to see how the world had changed from the last time I had been there. The blue hallway with the paintings of a rocky shore with blue and red water had become darker. The atmosphere, in general, was more sinister and the paintings that hung in the hallway had changed somewhat. Instead of just the rocky shore, there were corpses lying broken on the rocks. The hallway also seemed to have random scorch marks every now and then. I turned left and began to walk down that hallway.

Soon the red lettering on the floor that read 'C O M E' appeared on the floor and got more and more jumbled as we got closer to the end of that hallway. I sighed to myself, this was not the way I had wanted to reveal my secret to them. "Ri- I mean Ib? Um, where are we going?" Shiemi asked quietly from where she was clutching tightly onto Yukio's arm. 

"Down this hallway is where I had found my rose originally, so first thing's first is that we need to get our roses so that we can continue," I called back to her as I continued to stride down the hallway. "Down the right path is a locked door and the key is also this way," we continued to walk until we finally arrived at the end of the blue hallway. There stood a table with a big vase of water filled with roses on it. I bent down near it and plucked the red rose out of the vase. There was no royal blue rose though, must mean Garry isn't recognized as a person anymore. Good, 1 less person to worry about. I stepped back from the vase and motioned for the others to pick a rose.

Yukio had a burgundy red rose, Shiemi had a baby pink rose, Izumo had a purple rose, Paku had a pink rose, Shima had a lime green rose, Konekomaru had a white rose, Bon had a sky blue rose and Shura had an orange rose. I had no idea what their colors said about them but I didn't ponder over it too much, we had a task to do. "Now remember what I had said before, that rose now represents your life. There will be more vases spread out through the gallery and if one of you does manage to get your rose damaged then the vase heals it. Now there is a danger of being separated, so just do your best to solve the puzzles and make your way forward." I said grimly. 

It's time we move on. I turned back to the table and began to push it away from the blue door that it was in front of. I tried the door handle and was satisfied to see that it wasn't locked. Turning the handle and opening the door we walked in. I expected to see the painting of a girl with her eyes closed and her hair coming out of the painting and in a way that was what I saw. This painting had changed from when I was a kid. The woman in the painting had her head down so that her hair covered half of her face. Her eye that was visible was closed and like before her hair seemed to fall out of the painting.

Her hair, unlike last time, was greasy and un-kept, it hung limply from her head like string. There lay a key, it was in surprisingly good condition and was rather small, more modern than its original old stereotypical appearance. There were patches of blue on the metal that looked like paint but it actually felt like part of the metal. It was a sky blue key, the same color as Bon's rose. I carefully stooped down and gingerly picked up the key. As soon as I touched the old blue key the paintings head began to lift up. It slowly raised its head and the hair that was covering 1 half of her face fell away revealing the other half of her face. It was severely burned and her other eye was missing from its socket.

Her eye flew open and she grinned down at me. Her one eye that was still there was incredibly bloodshot and it looks like her iris had been broken. How irresponsible do you have to be to break your iris? Never mind. Her smile widened impossibly far making her awfully burned faces stretch and pinch in ways it probably should not have. I turned and we quickly left the room closing the door behind us. I sighed as I realized the lettering on the floor had both changed and spread to the walls. 'T H I E F' was written all over the floor and walls. We made our way down the hallway when more letters appeared on the floor in front of us in fresh red paint.

I could read it clearly now. Thief it said. Ignoring it, I stepped over it and continued on my way. The other trainees trailing behind me clutching both their roses and their weapons tightly to in their hands. We continued down the hallway where I remembered there was another door. When we made it to the door I inserted the key and turned. Despite the state of all the gallery walls, the doors all seemed to be in pretty good condition.

I heard a click and the door swung open. Putting the small shiny sky blue key in a hidden pocket of my shirt and zipping it up so it wouldn't fall out we journeyed on into the new area. This place was a dark green and had paintings of different bugs. Before they had been simple pictures of bugs but now they were depicted as violent. Jumping violently towards the viewer. Their jaws open as if wanting to bite the viewer. Turning right I was surprised to see that the ant was still there. It wasn't crawling around like it had been before. Instead, it was limping, it was missing about 4 legs.

"I... just... wanted.... to see... my old painting.... one last time," it whispered in a very breathy voice. I sighed and walked around the poor little bug. I opened the door only to come across a decent sized hole in the ground. It was big enough that I probably couldn't jump across it safely, looks like I would be doing the same thing as last time. Quickly I turned and left the room. 

"You guys can wait here for now alright. I'll be right back with something for that hole but why don't you guys keep that little ant company ok?" I said as I began to walk towards the other hallway that was green.

If I remembered correctly there were mannequin hands that came out of the walls so as long as I stayed away from the edges then I should be alright. I carefully stepped around the sign and began to make my way down the corridor. Every couple of feet an arm shot out of the wall with a growl and hiss. The clawed black hands reached and swiped at me. I finally made it to the end of the corridor only to almost get my face scratched off. Carefully stepping around that angry arm I made it to the ant painting. It didn't look like it had changed much but it did look like the canvas had been hastily sewn together. I carefully removed it from the wall and carried it back to the ant.

When I arrived I saw all of my friends sitting around the hallway. Some were leaning against the wall and some were around the ant and Yukio was examining the paintings. Always curious Yukio was. I knelt down in front of the ant and showed him his painting. "Thank you... it's been a while.... since I've last seen it," The ant breathed out. 

Turning to speak to my classmates and teachers I said "Now I'm going to use this to cross that gap in the other room. It looks like it won't support more than me, so I will go alone ok? There should be a key in the next room so I will get it and come back." I said as I began to walk towards the green door.

 

* * *

 

Yukio P.O.V

When we had begun our mission in the art gallery I hadn't been nervous at all. Despite how weary Rin seemed about this mission, I had been on many missions like this before. I was sure we could handle it, it was probably just a demon that wanted to play a little game with us humans. Making our way through the gallery I couldn't help but look around and admire the artwork. Guertena was truly a genius but I couldn't help but recognize a lot of these pieces from those odd nightmare monster that Rin painted and drew when he was anxious.

Rin seemed to be very uncomfortable and seemed to nervously rub his Tamer tattoo as well as that lighter that I knew he kept in his pocket. He either really didn't like this art gallery of he was hella nervous for his first mission. Either way, it was pretty strange considering his general personality. He was always pretty confident in his skills so he really didn't have a reason to be nervous about the mission.

He said he had history here but really how bad can your experience be at a freaking art gallery?! It did seem a little weird. We finally made it to the painting that the roses were found under. As soon as the name of the painting was spoken out loud something strange seemed to happen. The lights flickered and blue paint began to ooze from the painting. How did that even happen? The demon must be near to create such reactions from the inanimate objects.

As I leaned forward to examine the painting, letters appeared on the floor. 'C O M E B A C K  I B' was splattered all over the floor in bright red paint. Rin seemed to pale considerably after seeing those letters. Shura squinted at the letters and read it out loud "Come back Ib. Wait who is Ib?" she asked in her usual loud obnoxious voice. I was confused, there was no information about someone named 'Ib' in any of the information we were given by the Vatican.

Rin took a step back from all of us as he said in a low smooth voice "welcome to the world of Guertena," the way he said it made it seem very sinister and quite frankly it made me very nervous. What on earth did he mean by 'welcome to the world of Guertena'? Nothing happened other than some basic demonic activity, right? It was supposed to be a straightforward mission, there wasn't supposed to be anything complicated about this. Nothing should be involving a long-dead artist!

"I would like to ask you to call me Ib from here on out to avoid confusion. Now I believe it is my time to take charge of this mission as I have had the unfortunate experience of being trapped here before" Rin continued. Wait so Rin was Ib? But how and when? Nothing was making sense. He had been trapped here before? And how were we trapped? We were just in the art gallery the worst thing that could happen was being locked in right?

Looking back at the painting of the Fabricated World and saw that the dripping paint had form words. 'Come down below Ib, I'll show you a new secret,' it read. Rin sighed and turned back to face us. (He had turned to read the paint as well) "Follow me, once we've gotten this far the only way out is through," he said as he began to leave the area. Because we had common sense, we all followed him but I had a nagging feeling in my gut. Something was off here and I had no idea what.

Maybe I just didn't like the fact that Rin seemed to know what he was doing and I didn't. It was my responsibility as a teacher to look after my students and it was my responsibility to look after my brother. He may be older than me, but in this world, he was an amateur that needed protection. We followed him silently up until we reached the painting on the floor that was titled 'Abyss of the Deep'. There were blue footprints that looked to have been made with paint leading into the abyss. "We have to jump now, so let's go"

Rin called over his shoulder as he looked into the water. He looked over his shoulder and must have seen our confused faces because he smiled warmly at us and then said: "I'll explain when we've arrived ok?" The other nodded and so did I but I couldn't help but shake this feeling that something bad was going to happen. But throughout our journey back to this painting we hadn't run into any other guests. Looks like maybe this was the only way out.

We all stepped forward and took a leap of faith (literally) and jumped into the water. We landed in a long corridor. Rin sat us down and then he began to explain all that happened last time he was here. It certainly was a shock to find out everything (well not everything) he had told me had been a lie. Mary wasn't his sister but she was a painting that killed his boyfriend before he became his boyfriend. And he met his boyfriend in this apparent hellhole and he knew him when he was 9 years old. This is all kinds of messed up. It was so many types of weird that I still couldn't wrap my head around it.

We then moved on and just followed Rin wherever he decided to go. If he had really been here before then he had obviously gotten out once so he could get all of us out this time. When we were walking down the hallway I couldn't help but look at all the letters that seemed to constantly be appearing on the floor. "Ri- I mean Ib? Um, where are we going?" Shiemi asked quietly. She had latched herself onto my arm as soon as the lights had flickered and hadn't let go since.

"Down this hallway is where I had found my rose originally, so first thing's first is that we need to get our roses so that we can continue," Rin called back at us as we walked down the hallway. He also told us that we needed to go this way anyway because there was a key that went to a locked door that was at the end of the other hallway.

I knew we had finally reached our destination when I saw a brown table with a vase on it full of roses. Rin plucked a beautiful red rose out of the vase then motioned for us to take a rose as well. I reached forward and I felt unnaturally drawn to the burgundy one. It was odd but I felt like I should take that rose so I did. It seems that the others had felt the same thing for their respective roses. "Now remember what I had said before, that rose now represents your life. There will be more vases spread out through the gallery and if one of you does manage to get your rose damaged then the vase heals it. Now there is a danger of being separated, so just do your best to solve puzzles and make your way forward." Rin reminded us. 

I felt even more unsettled when he said this. What if we were separated and we couldn't solve the puzzles? What would we be able to do? I shouldn't think of those things, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Rin moved the table over and we all filed into the room. There was one painting only in this room. It was highly unsettling and the woman might have been pretty had it not been for her greasy un-kept hair. When Rin picked up the small blue and bronze key she began to lift her head.

It was hard to believe the paintings could even move when suddenly I actually got to see the rest of her face. It was horribly burned and when she opened her bloodshot eye and smiled at us I was thoroughly freaked out. I wanted to hop on the 'nope train' all the way to 'Fuck-that-ville' right then and there but I settled on fleeing the room. When we escaped that room shutting the door behind us I noticed the lettering had changed and was all over the place.

'T H I E F' it read. We just picked up roses and a key, what was so bad about that? Stepping over a particularly thick part of the paint we made our way down the hallway until we reached a door. Rin unlocked the door and slipped the key into one of his many zip-able pockets. Upon entering the green area (it was kind of weird how everything is colored while in a real art gallery everything was a shocking white.

We walked past a poor dilapidated ant and past another door only to come across a giant crack in the floor. Rin sighed and left the room while we trailed behind. He told us what he would be doing and told us to wait here. We sat down around the ant and began to talk amongst ourselves. "Why do you think he lied to us about everything and why did Garry call him Karma instead of Ib or Rin if they didn't meet on this super-secret mission? It seemed a little odd. He didn't know him from that government mission so why?" I asked everyone. 

"Well, he didn't lie about everything. I mean he only wasn't truthful about Mary and Garry. Other than that I am pretty sure he is telling the truth." Shiemi began. "I've actually known him longer than you have Yuki-kun, and he did originally introduce himself as Ib. I knew him before he found out about all the demonic stuff. He would always purchase our colored roses and I always wondered why."

She sniffled slightly, "despite the fact that he did have a colder attitude a couple years ago he did seem happier than now." She mumbled. This place was already making me highly uncomfortable. I can't imagine what it must have done to the psyche of a 9-year-old. Was this what's happened to all the others that have gone missing? Are they dead?

Will we meet the few that maybe are alive? A total of 10 people had gone missing in total. Both the roses and missing people are the same number, so it's probably unlikely that we will encounter anyone alive. We also probably won't be able to trust anyone we encounter in the gallery other than ourselves. If we do encounter any of the missing people here, we'll know they're dead.

All the flowers that had been found, had had all of their petals ripped off. Let me try to remember all of the roses that were found. There was violet, magenta, navy blue, grey, pale orange, green, dark green, pale green, black and a dark grey. If we ever encounter someone here that has a rose of that color than we know we can't trust them.

I shook my head and tried not to think about whether our roses had shown up in front of the painting or not. We would make it out, we were stronger than the average art gallery guests. We heard a bunch of hissing and eventually, Rin came back with a simple ant painting. It looked like it had been sewn back together after being torn apart from the center. Rin bent down and showed it to the ant briefly before walking over to the room with the hole in the ground. He said he would get the key and come back. I sure hope that it would be ok...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	13. The Dark and Winding Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Ib P.O.V

I placed the painting down over the gap and carefully walked across it. I felt the painting begin to tear and quickly made my way across the gap. Carefully I crept in until I made it into another room. There on the floor was another key but instead of being sky blue it was a lime green like Shima's rose. I clutched it tight as I realized that the mannequin that stood in front of me had begun to move. I bolted out of the room and luckily made it across the worn painting just as it began to rip. Luckily I ended up making it across before the painting tore completely. I breathe heavily as I escaped the mannequin.

I left the room and came back to my group holding the key triumphantly. They smiled at me and we began to walk up to the hallway with the weird vicious arms. I warned them to 'beware of edges' and said that they would get hurt if they did end up touching the arms. We carefully made our way single file through that hallway and to the locked green door. I unlocked it with the lime green key and then put it in my pocket that held the sky blue key.

Upon entering the room I groaned in dismay. We had arrived in a cat-like room that required a 'fish key' to leave. There were 2 pathways that lead from the cat room in opposite directions. I lead my friends down the left path and we entered a room filled with paintings covered by a cloth. There was one place on the wall where a stickman was standing. As we walked past the stick figure yellow letters appeared on the wall beside the stick man. "Play Hide and Seek!" I read out loud. Then the stick man disappeared and there was an eerie silence. "Come on we have to find him if we want to find half of that damned fish key," I said in irritation.

We began to search beneath the cloth when suddenly we heard a high pitched feminine scream and a slap. We all turned to see where it came from only to see Shima sheepishly rubbing his cheek that was all red from the slap. One of the petals from his rose fell down to the ground. His rose looked a bit more haggard than it originally did. I sighed but I did pity him because back when I had been in this room alone I had also been slapped by that painting. It hurt a lot, that painting was unnaturally strong. We kept searching until I heard Izumo gasp in disgust then she yelled out "I found him, or what's left of him!"

I felt apprehensive as I walked towards Izumo to see what she meant by 'what's left of him' and I was thoroughly disgusted at what I did see. It appeared as if the stickman had been ripped apart and his pieces were placed in a pile. The only part of him that was not in the pile was his head. It sat close to us and was smiling with a grin that wouldn't be physically possible if he wasn't a stickman. He along with his pieces were all covered in blood (red paint) and one of his eyes was beginning to fall out of its socket. Beside him in yellow paint was 'you've found me.... you get a prize' in shaky handwriting. I heard something fall from the other side of the room and Shima cried out in triumph holding the fish head in his hand.

"Come on, the other half is inside the other room," I called to all of them as we began to make our way out of this room. As we walked through the pathways Shima passed me the wooden fish head. We made it into the other room that was filled with mannequin heads. It looked a lot like the stereotypical art room that everyone imagines as soon as they hear art room. I am going to assume that it is a running thing that all the changes made to this world are going to be sinister because instead of the lifeless mannequins that were there when I was 9, they all had red glowing eyes that followed our every movement.

I shivered as I felt their intense hungry gazes settle on my rose. I'm sure the others felt it as well. We made our way forward only to have one of the mannequins move forward and towards us as if to block our way... At least until it moved towards us its hungry gaze focused on our roses. We quickly went around the other way. I made a motion for them to stay where they were and I went around the other way and waited for that blasted moving mannequin head to move towards me.

The others appeared alarmed as it neared me until I saw it hit a crack in the floor and begin to fall. I jumped backward just in time to avoid being hit by the shards of ceramic. Inside the shards of ceramic sat the wooden fish tale. I gingerly picked it up and stepped back to where my friends waited. "Hey Shima, you were hurt in the previous room right?" I asked as I began to combine the 2 wooden pieces together. "Yeah, but why do you need to know?" He asked me.

"Here hand me your rose," I said instead of answering. Once he had handed me the flower I immediately walked over to the vase sitting on one of the many boxes of art supplies in this room. Carefully placing the rose inside the vase we all watched it heal before our eyes. It regrew its lost petal and the rose looked as vibrant as when he first got it. Smiling I plucked the rose out of the vase and handed it back to him. "It's very important to make sure that your rose always has all of its petals and to heal the rose whenever necessary. But remember each vase can usually only heal it once ok, so please be careful when you heal. You may need the vase at a later time," I reminded them.

Turning and delivering one final glare to the mannequin heads before we left the room. Coming back to the weird cat room we placed the finished fish key into the slot and then a loud series of meows sounded throughout the room as a new passage appeared in the center of the cat's face. We walked on through it to get to a dark green room. If I remember correctly, then we would have to find all of the numbers to find the passcode and unlock the next door. In front of us was a painting of a red face that was wagging its tongue at us and as we neared it, it spit its lovely acid saliva at us. Luckily I was in front so I stopped right before it hit us.

Glaring at the painting I moved on to look closer at the seemingly blank painting. In the very center was a small red 9. I groaned, great it was that math puzzle. It was so long ago though that I couldn't remember the other numbers so we would have to solve all of the puzzles before we were able to leave this area. I walked towards the other direction and read the plate on the wall. 'BEWARE OF LIPS' was written in a small neat typewriter-like font. Ugh, I sighed and said grumpily to the others, "please do not touch the giant lips on the wall,"

This place was really beginning to get to me again. I always hated the creepy atmosphere and being alone in this place but I think having a group of people to look after is somehow worse. I guess it's the added responsibility of making sure they don't die either. When I was younger I had Garry to lean on so I wasn't that afraid because I knew he was there for me and when I was alone I was more curious about this world than anything.

I was becoming irritated very quickly, I had no idea how much of this world has changed and despite the fact that my friends were doing their best to stay out of my way and not be a bother, their quiet whispering behind me is putting me on edge. Some of them seem to think that this isn't really a serious situation (I couldn't really blame them as nothing really creepy has happened. I'm sure as soon as we get chased by something they will take it a lot more seriously) and some of them really believed me and thought that we were in serious trouble.

This, of course, caused a lot of arguing which put me into a further state of uneasiness. This wasn't good, arguing amongst ourselves never ends well and we are trapped in enemy territory. Hopefully, they will end up learning something from this. I felt even more uncomfortable, I really wish Garry was here but for some reason, he hasn't made an appearance yet. We doubled back so that we could take the path that went forward. "Just when you've forgotten," Yukio read the sign. 

"But what have we forgotten what?" Bon grumbled. It seems he isn't too keen on being here either.

"It can't be that bad right? We might as well continue," Shura said in an upbeat voice apparently thinking that this world wasn't something to be afraid of. I get that she was a high-level exorcist and she had seen some weird shit but this really wasn't something to laugh about. It was a terrifying experience without the extra sinister changes that have been made since last time. I groaned, sincerely hoping that she will understand that this is not just a joke or a playful demon.

She walked ahead with confidence until an arm appeared out of the wall with a hiss and decked Shura right in the face causing her to lose a petal. She fell back on to the floor. Groaning and rubbing her ass she said: "well then, it would appear that this is what we had forgotten." Then she stood up as if nothing happened but a little worse for wear and stepped around the arm. Sighing the others and I began to follow her.

I was pretty miffed at her decision to lead this mission. (If only she knew who I really was, she would respect my orders without question) At least Yukio hasn't tried to pull the teacher card yet. We came across a bizarre hallway with a bunch of humanoid dolls hanging by a foot from the ceiling on red ropes. We all spread apart down the hallway examining certain things as we tried to find a clue. "Ahhhck," Shiemi screamed in fright.

I heard a thump and turned to see that Yukio had quickly pulled her out of the way of a falling doll. I pressed my lips together as I remembered the time that doll had almost crushed me. I walked forward until I reached the doll. Kneeling beside it I saw a green 18 on the dolls clothes. I was about to stand up when I heard Bon call something from down the hallway. "Hey, Ib! Does the Liar's room ring a bell?" He called back to me.

Hurriedly I ran over to see if he had opened the door yet. The others seeing me run over to Bon also ran over. "This isn't an easy puzzle. Now I need you all to not touch anything ok? Touch nothing and you should be fine. Am I clear?" I said in a commanding tone. Apparently surprised by my new attitude the others nodded slightly taken aback. I opened the door and walked into the room to see 6 paintings. Each painting had a black mannequin (not headless) and they all had a different color of clothing on. Under each painting was a little plate that held some text.

I began at the furthest painting to the left. It was a male wearing green and raising his left hand as if he was struck with an idea. (Like a eureka moment) "Stand in front of the statue, go west 3 steps, then south 1 step. That's the answer!" Konekomaru read out loud. 

"Well if we have the answer we can find the last clue!" Shura cried as he began to walk towards the yellow door in the center of the room. 

I quickly ran forward and caught her arm "Don't be an idiot! This is the Liar's room. We cannot guarantee that this is the portrait that speaks the truth" I hissed at her.

She looked very shocked at my utter disrespect. Up until that moment I had never shown a 'superior' disrespect in front of my classmates. I internally groaned at my slip up. I figured it could be passed off as bad memories and my hot-headed attitude but in all honesty, her ignorance was beginning to piss me off. She just didn't get it did she? Once I had finished I let go of her arm and began to read the others. The next mannequin wore a brown outfit and I am 90% sure was female. "Stand in front of the statue, go east 4 steps, then north 2 steps. That's the answer!" Paku read. I turned and smirked at Shura.

The next painting was a male and he wore a yellow shirt and orange pants. "The one in white speaks the truth!" Shima read. We moved on to the painting with the male that wears blue. 

"The only truth-speaker wears green!" Shura read as she looked at me triumphantly. 

"Liar's room Shura. And besides even if what he said is true then he is a liar by default as he isn't wearing green, therefore we can immediately rule out both the blue and green mannequins" I deadpanned at her.

She pouted at my response. The 5th painting was a female mannequin wearing a white dress. "Stand in front of the statue, go east 2 steps, then south 2 steps. That's the answer!" Bon read. The last painting was of a female mannequin wearing a red dress. 

"I agree with the one in yellow," I read. Assuming Kyoya's thinking position I began to think out loud so that no one (*cough*Shura*cough*) would question my final decision as they heard how I came to make it. "If the blue and green are not speaking the truth and the red disagrees with the one in yellow and the yellow said white spoke the truth then he is lying too. Since the yellow is a liar, then the white is also lying leaving only the brown one as a truth speaker." I said. Turning to the door I confidently walked through it. The door closed behind me. Not at all perturbed by the door closing behind me, I figured it would open back up once I had lifted the right tile. Standing in front of the statue and going east 4 steps, then north 2 steps I lifted up the tile that I had stopped at I was relieved to see that it was the correct tile. On the back of the tile was a purple 4. Smiling I tried the door and my suspicion was proved to be correct as the door opened right away.

I opened the door to have about 5 people collapse against me as if they had been trying to ram the door down. I groaned as I got up off the floor then glared at them. "Why were you trying to break down the door pray tell?" I asked them. 

Shima rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, we heard the door close and then lock so we immediately tried to open the door but as it was locked we were unable to. Man the doors must be reinforced or something we could not break it down!"

My grimace softened. At least they were trying to obey my orders. I couldn't say the same for Shura who had been leaning against the wall. I was just about to get up when suddenly I heard a loud splatter of paint. Turning to look back at the paintings I was horrified to see that they were all covered in red paint. 5 out of 6 were splattered with red that looked to have come from the brown mannequin. They held kitchen knives and had huge painted on smiles on their faces. The brown painting had been torn apart and from each slice and torn edge dripped red paint. There was so much red paint you couldn't even see the mannequin's face.

Looking at all of the plates underneath the paintings they all were splattered with yellow paint and it formed the word 'LIAR!' I felt uneasy just looking at the horribly grinning mannequins. "Let's go, I can unlock the next door now," I said. The others, who had been eyeballing the paintings as well had also apparently been thinking the same thing and followed me out without complaint. After leaving the room we walked back down the hallway until we appeared at another yellow door surrounded by a lighter green. There was a 3 number keypad on the door. Underneath it, there was a note that said 'green # x red # + purple #'

So 18 x 9 + 4. That's 166. After putting in the passcode I heard a click and the door opened up to reveal a room filled with artificial trees. On the back wall was a painting of a branch with a large red apple on it. On the tree closest to us had a wooden apple attached to it and I got an idea. If I remembered correctly there was a painting of lips on the wall down one corridor that was always hungry. Plucking the apple off the tree with a quick fluid motion and leaving the room while calling back "follow me!" They seemed a little apprehensive until we reached the hallway with the arm. I walked down the middle and didn't even jump when an arm jumped out from the left.

The others, on the other hand, were very shocked at this turn of events. After dodging both arms we arrived at the painting of lips on the wall. "Hungry... Give me food... That food.... Give it to me..." It growled at us. I willingly held out the apple to it and it ate it. It's abnormally sharp teeth tearing into the wooden apple like it was paper. "This tasty... I let you pass now... Go through my mouth...." It said to us after it had finished the apple that I handed to it. It opened its mouth wide enough for us to jump through as if it was a hole in the wall. I turned to the others who looked quite afraid and were eyeing the teeth suspiciously.

"Come one! There's only 1 way through!" I said as I jumped into the hole. We ended up in a long hallway with various paintings of guillotines. Each was one was higher than the other and when we arrived at the end of the hallway, I stopped them before we reached the stairs. In the nick of time too, because not a second later a giant guillotine fell down. It would have easily killed us if we had continued on. The large cracks in the ground from the impact proved that well enough.

After the guillotine had been raised again we all quickly ran down the stairs. At the end of the stairs was what looked to be a red room, it was large and it looked similar to an art gallery. Less creepy shit and more art exhibits. We were all looking at the various paintings until we stopped in front of a giant blue statue. It was like a 3-year-old had been given clay and was told to go to town but at the same time make it slightly resemble a human. Looking at the title I deadpanned. Of course, it would be called something as stupid as "Uh."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	14. A Sinister Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds  
> Song 1: [Ib Game] Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois by Ib Rouchefort  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISie4wwm7_c

Ib P.O.V

After a while of exploring the 'safe' section of the gallery we arrived in front of the Lady in Red's portrait. It like every other painting in this section hadn't changed at all since I had last been there. She looked relatively normal with a small graceful smile on her face. You couldn't see her hands and that unsettled me. We all gathered around her portrait and stared at her for a moment. Deciding that she wasn't anything special we turned around to continue to look around the room when suddenly we heard a crash. Turning back around we saw the Lady in Red crawling halfway out of her painting's frame and beginning to crawl towards us.

She had a horrific smirk twisting her features as her blood covered hands with horribly broken nails grasped at the floor and dragged her forward. She hissed at us as she began to crawl towards us at a surprising speed for a girl who was dragging herself and her frame with only her hands. She snarled at us and we took that moment to attempt to flee. Turning and running until we reached the red door we desperately tried to open it only to discover that it was locked. Cursing I scanned the area for the key desperately trying to remember where I had gotten it the last time.

Turning I saw a key that had baby pink splotches on it bronze surface in the area where the Lady in Red had fallen. Turning to Shura and Shima I yelled "I see a key! Keep her distracted ok!" Not giving a moment for them to process my order I began to run towards the key. Leaping over the Lady in Red and scooped it up from the ground. When the Lady in Red turned around and bared her long sharp fangs at me. I thought for sure that she would end up biting my leg and I reached for Kurikara when suddenly she was hit in the head by Shima's staff.

Shooting him a grateful smile I quickly ran around the Lady in Red while Shima distracted her. Running to the group of people by the door I tried the key on the door and I was happy to see that despite being a different color than the door it unlocked it. Opening the door and ushering the group through I called to Shima "Hurry up! Just run she can't move that fast and she can't open doors!" Shima immediately turned and bolted through the door that I quickly closed behind us. There was a loud ‘thunk’, as the Lady in Red hit the door then there was a lot of hissing.

We had arrived in a small room with book shelves filled with what appeared to be children's picture books. Groaning I sat down and leaned against the wall. I had almost forgotten just how terrifying being chased by those things truly was. Shima collapsed against the wall alongside me and we sat in silence for a couple minutes. After our short breather, we got up and tried the door. As expected it was locked. Groaning in irritation at all these damned puzzles (I swear it was like we were in some stupid RPG horror game like Mad Father or The Crooked Man)

I said "I'm pretty sure that the door can be unlocked by reading a certain book. ’[Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISie4wwm7_c)' or something like that. 

After a few minutes of searching through the countless picture books Paku called out "I found it!" We all gathered around and opened the book. Before we had the chance to try to read it an eerie music began to play as the story seemed to come alive on the pages. 4 little children appeared to be sitting around a table. "Happy Birthday" 3 out of the 4 children cheered. 

The little blue girl responded with "Thanks, guys!” 

The little pink girl then began to speak. "For your special day.... we made a Galette des Rois!"

Confused the little blue girl asked, "What's that?" 

To which the pink haired girl said: "there's a coin in this pie.... and if you eat the slice with the coin in it.... then you'll be a happy person!" 

Paku seemed to find that cute as she said: "oooh we should do that next time someone bakes a cake!" I smiled at her enthusiastic attitude. If only the story didn't take a turn for the worst. 

"That sounds like fun!" The blue girl said. 

"Doesn't it?" the pink one responded. "Ok let's divide it up... which slice do you want," the pink girl said. "Let's eat!" they all cheered.

After some time the little blue girl cried out "I think I just swallowed something hard!" 

One of the little boys then said: "ahaha Carrie, it must've been the coin!" The blue girl or Carrie seemed, worried "what do I do?" she asked. The pink girl didn't think much of it and said "It's fine, the coin's small! Well, I'll clean this up now!" After cleaning up she found her mom standing in front of the study door looking worried. "What's wrong mom?' she asked to which her mom replied, "have you seen the key to the study?"

The pink little girl responded in confusion "The key to the study? Isn't it always on the tabl.... huh? It's the coin" She said while she picked the coin up off the table. "The one that was supposed to go in the pie! Could it be that." the pink girl’s mother began to walk away. 

"Oh, where could it be? My dear will be so upset." As the little girl contemplated what she should do she accidentally dropped her knife. Looking down at it she knew exactly what she would do. "Looks like I was just as careless as Carrie..." She said as she walked across the pages holding her kitchen knife.

"Oh no," Paku muttered as she realized what the little pink haired girl would do. The next page was just a red curtain and then the pink girl popped out from the curtain holding up a bloody key. "I found the keeey!" she yelled happily. "Now open the door" as soon as the eerie music stopped Paku closed the book. After putting the little picture book back we heard a little click and then the door swung open. We all walked through the door in a somber fashion still trying to understand what we just witnessed.

It came to me suddenly that that story book had been drawn with crayons in a rather childish way, Mary must have drawn that story then. I shivered in horror at how twisted Mary was all of those years ago and sent a silent prayer out to whoever was listening that we wouldn't have to meet her here again. I pointed to the door out on the right side and breathed out "Through there." We slowly made our way through the door until we came across a man lying on the floor groaning in pain. I immediately knelt next to him. Looks like Garry had a very valid reason for not coming out of my tattoo when we arrived. Quickly checking his hand for the small silver key he willingly loosened his grip on it. A sense of panic that I didn't have last time I was in this situation suddenly came over me.

Running like hell's demons were on my heels I ran through the door and hurriedly making an exit, leaving the group behind. Running through another door and quickly unlocking another door with the small sliver key I held tightly in my hands. I pulled out Kurikara and slashed at the Lady in Blue. She had been tearing the flowers and shredding the petals of a beautiful blue rose. I wasn't about to let Garry die again. I scared her enough to drop the rose and snatched up the rose as I fled the room. Running through the door I ran to the vase of water. In that time Yukio and Bon had run through the door to see what I was doing while the others had apparently stayed with Garry.

They found me staring as the royal blue rose as it regrew all of the petals that had been violently torn off. I sighed in relief as the rose fully healed. I gently pulled the rose out of the vase and gingerly held it in my hands. Nodding to Yukio and Bon I walked past them and through the other door. I went through the door to see that Garry had begun to sit up with the help of Shiemi. She turned and smiled at me and gently pointed at me while whispering to Garry. Garry sat up fully and I made my way over to him.

Smiling gently at him I handed him his rose and the pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. He shivered and kept whispering how it was like the first time all over again. After a couple minutes he stood up and made to continue on when the red silly faced painting spit at him. "Eeeeekkkk!" He shrieked in a very unmanly way. I deadpanned at him. Again, really? Shiemi and Paku giggled softly. 

He glared at them and said "I was just startled that's all.” 

“Again?" I asked him in disbelief. He glared at me and stomped over to me, then gave me a noogie. I laughed as I tried to get him to stop and suddenly I wasn't as uneasy in this place because I also had Garry to help me look after this group. I could depend on him to help me.

He seemed to understand what I was thinking and immediately wrapped his arm around my shoulder because I was too short for him to comfortably wrap his arm around my waist. We continued on to the right and we came across a lifeless mannequin that stood in front of a door. Nodding at Garry he moved the statue out of the way and we entered the door. We continued into a gray area. Standing on the floor was 2 statues of black feminine mannequin hands. On the walls behind the sculptures was 2 portraits. The one behind the left hand was a beautiful bride with a sad expression on her face as she held a large bouquet of flowers in her hands.

The painting behind the right hand was of a groom in a white suit to match his brides dress, he also wore a terribly sad expression on his face. We walked past the sad couple and continued down the hallway. We arrived at a grey section. It had many different gray doors and we walked into the first one. I heard hissing and immediately groaned. I wonder what would be chasing us this time. We had arrived in what looked to be a maze.

There was a bunch of headless black mannequins wearing red dresses as they patrolled the maze very slowly. Judging from the amount of hissing (How they did that with no head I have no idea) and the amount of footsteps there was only 3 of them. I turned right and we began to creep down the hallway. Well some of us walked silently (*cough*Garry and I*cough*) because we knew Namba (remember that Garry had been with me at all times since the time that we left the gallery) and the rest of our group just tried to be quiet.

They have no idea how to keep quiet and I felt myself become irritated again at Shura's blasé behavior. I don't understand why she isn't taking this seriously and needlessly endangering our lives. I had to resist the urge to growl because it would make more unnecessary noise which would attract the mannequins. Or 'power rangers' as I've heard Shima call them while he was quietly discussing it with Konekomaru and Bon, each of them discussing their opinions on this bizarre room.

It was rather odd I had to admit especially for first-timers, and the only truly horrifying thing we've seen so far was the Lady in Red and that stupid story book. Nothing really bad has happened so I can sort of understand why they haven't actually been terrified of it yet. We finally found an old art easel in one of the dead ends that gave a hint. The canvas looked to have been splashed by blood and by the horrendous blood stain on the wall I would have to say that one of the kidnapped gallery guests had met their end here.

Looking away from the gruesome stain on the wall I read the canvas out loud so that everyone could hear. "Check directly south from the red paint," I said. Leaving the room while the others followed behind me, we continued throughout the maze looking for red paint, not blood but paint. We walked for a while until finally, we found some red paint on the floor. Going directly south until we ran into a wall (it was really a small alcove) I found a switch on the wall. Flipping the switch I heard something move.

Deciding that it would be a good idea to get out of that room while we could I managed to find the exit in only a couple of minutes and luckily we did not end up running into any of the mannequins. After leaving that room, we took a left and went around the room. There was weird round shapes all over the floor. They slowly opened up to reveal that they are eyes all over the floor. As we continued down the hallway, making sure that we avoided stepping on the eyes because ew, we saw one of the eyes was all red and puffy. Garry looked down at it and said: "Aw poor guy look like you still got that congestion problem don't ya."

He looked away from the orb and then said "hey Ib, do you remember that room with all the art easels and stools? I think it's somewhere around here.... it should have some eye drops for the little guy." I nodded as I tried to remember my past experiences. The longer I stayed in this world the more clearly I began to remember it. I bet by the end of my adventure here now I would be able to remember everything from my first trip.

Maybe I would write it all down or turn it into a manga. With my connections, I could get it popular easily. It might be something to consider, I'm sure Kyoya would love the added business. Smiling to myself I began to turn around the corner all the while looking at the paintings on the walls trying desperately to remember whether or not they were always this dark and morbid before. Rounding another corner we continued down and made a right and stopped in front of another gray door. Upon opening it I had to say it looked even more cluttered now than it did before.

It would even appear that there isn't a way to push the stools around like Garry and I did before. There was just too many and they were even stacked upon each other, plus they looked like they were cemented in place. Grinning I crouched down and prepared to jump. The other cram students and Garry of course, knew what I was going to do but Yukio and Shura looked confused. I looked up at the pile of easels and stools that I would have to navigate across.

"What are you going to do, jump? Don't be stupid you wouldn't be able to clear an easel" Shura said in her usual arrogant tone. She seemed to have liked or at least pitied me when we first met and even when Garry appeared but here she seemed to hate me. Maybe it was because she was supposed to be the leader, the students were supposed to look up to her and turn to her for answers, not me.

I scoffed at her and leaped over the easel with ease calling back to her "I used to run across the rooftops of buildings and across trees to get to school every day, I doubt an easel will be the thing I can't jump over." Quickly leaping from stack to stack I made it to the end of the room in the amount of time it would have taken to walk across the room if it had been empty. Landing in front of the painting that sat on the wall I saw the bottle of eye drops on the stool just like it had been last time.

Carefully picking it up, I leapt back to my group of friends holding up the bottle triumphantly. "Let's go help that little bugger" I said as we left the room. 

"Why do we even need to help that thing? We should be looking for a way out, not solving these useless puzzles!" Shura grumbled from her place at the back of the group. 

"Well Kirigakure-san, the reason we are doing this is because we have to solve the puzzles if we want to get out of here. If we don't solve his puzzles Guertena won't be happy and won't allow us to move on to the next section. Ib and I know the way but it won't let us unless we go through the motions" Garry said in a diplomatic tone.

We finally made it back to that one eye that had a congestion problem and we put in the eye drops. The eye then cleared up and began to sparkle in a very kawaii way. It glowed with happiness as it began to move across the floor, careful to void our feet only stopping once he had reached a certain part of the wall and he then decided to stare intently at that spot on the wall. Yes, there was a hidden door there.

Saying a quick thank you to the eye I opened the door and grabbed the red glass orb. Walking towards the giant white snake painting and placing the glass orb in the indent on the painting I heard a click and then the painting beside it fell down. On the back there was writing, it said 'behind the big tree'. Knowing that that door had been unlocked when I flipped the switch I lead everyone to the next room where I searched until I found the big tree statue. Looking around the statue was as promised the thing we were looking for. I pulled the wedding band from the tree branch it sat on then we walked all the way back until we reached the paintings of the grieving groom and bride and the sorrowful bride's hands.

I walked over to the left hand and placed it on the fourth finger or her ring finger and the portraits changed. The formerly solemn faces of the couple had now turned into genuinely happy expression. With a giant smile, the bride threw her bouquet and luckily Izumo was able to catch it. "Now all we have to do is give that to the next gatekeeper like I did with the wooden apple," I said to them as I began to lead them down the path that would take us to that horrid blue painting.

We walked until we came upon the blue painting. It looked similar to that red silly face that spit acid at us but it was more sinister looking. It looked and sounded insane when it said "ehehehe, hehehehehe... flowers... flowers're niiice... Give me that flower and I'll let you through... ehehe... Ehehe... your flower, pretty please?" Glaring at it in disdain I handed over the bouquet of flowers that the bride had given us. "Ehehehe, thanks... It smells niiice..... eheheh. Well, chow time!" It said happily and gobbled down the bouquet of flowers faster than you would think possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	15. The World is Supposed to be a Pretty Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Shura P.O.V

I was very annoyed with our entire situation. What made that brat think that he could just take over the mission Yukio and I were in charge of like that? He does 1 fancy government mission (that we still hasn't told us about anyway. I doubt it was actually anything important if that little brat was involved. The government wouldn't let children like him handle important things when there were adults much more capable. It was just luck that allowed him control over those damned flames) and he automatically thinks that he has more authority.

He says he's been here before and that it didn't have anything to do with the world of Gehenna. I call bullshit, this was obviously something demonic. You'd think the son of Satan could realize that. And that story he told us about? Well, that must be a ton of bullshit too. He probably imagined this Mary girl. Where was she now huh? It was all obviously a lie. Maybe the rose thing was real but I highly doubt that any other thing that he had done was real at all. He was just some nerd that happened to have muscles because of his demonic nature. It was the only explanation that made sense.

Anyway, this world was annoying me greatly. Couldn't these stupid demons just leave us alone? And why on earth didn't we just, I don't know break down the walls or doors?! We don't need to solve these stupid waste of time puzzles. I had voiced my complaint expecting Yukio and maybe some of the students to take my side but I was swiftly shot down by that brat’s boyfriend that he supposedly met here. Absolute bullshit!!

Grumbling to myself about stupid brats the entire time. The other brats that should have been following me, chose his side too. They really thought that he would be able to jump over those stupid easels. There was no way, he was to short and even for a half-demon that was asking a lot. He was also half human. But despite that he easily cleared the height of the easel. I couldn't believe it. And he was able to speak easily during his jumps too as he was able to sarcastically tell me that he did this all the time.

I was fuming by the time we gave that ring back to the grieving bride. She threw us her bouquet and I wanted to scream, what the hell was that going to help us with?! It didn't make any sense at all that she would give us a bloody bouquet instead of a freaking key. What the hell could we do with a bouquet? Offer it up to the gate as a gift?! Annnnnnnd it would seem we would do just that. There was no way that'd work right? WRONG!

That creepy ass painting was hungry. It was creepy as hell as it asked for flowers. It wouldn't stop creepily giggling. Irritated at all that has happened so far I grumbled as we made our way through the door that the painting turned into. He did say that he would let us through if he was given flowers. Something that bothered me was the absolute calm way that Rin seemed to be handling everything. He is the son of Satan, I wouldn't be surprised if he had somehow behind all of this.

I know I'm being all spiteful about this but I do have a reason. My boyfriend had been possessed by a king of hell, I believe it was Astaroth, the king of rot. It was a couple months ago during summer break, he had been looking for the second son of Satan, the one who actually possessed powers. He thought because I was a high-level exorcist I would know where he was and so he used my boyfriend to try to make me talk. When he didn't get what he wanted he killed my boyfriend.

It wasn't directly Rin's fault but he was still the reason my boyfriend was dead. And I still blamed him all the same. He had probably been happily on vacation with his classmates. Not a care in the world and completely unaware of the consequences of his happiness. Sure he was just a kid but he was demon spawn. He didn't deserve happiness after he had taken mine away. I had agreed to train him because I didn't want him to kill anyone with his flames.

Then I had pitied him because I knew how painful it was to watch someone you love die right in front of you. But Mary wasn't even his sister, he, in fact, hated her. I admit I had jumped to conclusions but still.... he had told Yukio that Mary was his sister when he was telling his story to his new family. Liar. That's what he is. A dirty rotten demon.

I had to admit I had forgotten for a moment what he was and what he was at fault for when I had seen him reunite with Garry. It wasn't fair that he got his love back (which was really creepy considering they fell in love when he was 9. If the story he told was true.... Talk about pedophile!) while I still had to suffer all because of him and how he was living a normal life. I am very bitter. We went through the paintings door and walked down a short hallway until we arrived at a turn.

Turning right, we were greeted with a weird sight. It was hella creepy and way messed up! Lining the long hallway was mannequin heads. All of them were creepily staring at us as we walked down the hall. On the walls were paintings of the mannequin heads (while they were still attached to their black bodies) they stared eerily at us as we walked down the hallway. We went through another open door and came into a rather large room with many free-standing walls. There was a bunch of paintings of those ladies hung on the walls. There was the plain headless mannequins standing in front of more vertical walls that went down to the far end of the room.

There was a noticeably larger spot where you could just make out a door. There were two large rooms that had locked doors (yes we went and tried all of them) inside of the room that we were in. One of them had 2 doors that seemed to be locked by passcode rather than by key. And the last one which was closest to the door that we came from was locked by a key though. Since one of the doors was locked with a passcode that asked us how many paintings of the ladies there was in this room.

Deciding that after seeing the Lady in Red fall off the wall and attack us it would be wise to heed Rin's words (or Ib as he requested that we call him now. Why did he need us to call him Ib? I get that he was called Ib when he came here the first time but still. It was rather smart to not use his real name, way smarter than a 9 year old should have been, but why now? Would the paintings be angry he lied or some stupid shit like that?) And stay together so that if we did get attacked by these ladies then we would have backup and we could avoid injury.

I had felt the sting of losing a rose petal and I had to say it hurt like hell. I can't believe he went through this when he was 9. He probably enjoyed it though, that sick demon fucker. Probably gets off on pain just like other demons. I can't believe I am having these thoughts. I know it's wrong to judge him because of what he is but it's so hard not to. Well, there's no point in changing how I think about him, it will just give me a head ache that I do not need.

Groaning, I continued to trudge along with the class as we went along all of the portraits, both counting them and familiarizing ourselves with the space that we are in. It seems Karasuma had actually taught them something useful; always familiarize yourself with the surrounding area in case you need to use it to fight or to flee. As an exorcist, we often get called to missions that are in unfamiliar environments and it's important to make sure you know the area. Most of the situations don't allow the luxury of taking in your surroundings and making a map considering demons will always strike when they are at an advantage, i.e. when you are in an uncomfortable situation.

As we left the area with those headless mannequins (looked way too much like power rangers to be a coincidence) we heard a crash and a hiss comes from one of the many corridors created by those walls. Getting the hell out of there we walked over to the other half of the gigantic room. There so many more paintings of those god damned ladies. These bitches were everywhere. Did this guy have a weird obsession with them or something?

It seemed a little odd that they all looked like the same lady just in different dresses. Anyway, silently praying that none of them would attack us, we examined the paintings. After a while, we found 1 painting that was different from the others. "The Hanged Man," that demon bastard that Rin was somehow dating said. (Once again mega creepy.) "That was the painting that I was staring at before I came here for the first time." He leaned closer and took a better look at the painting.

"Hey Ib, he has some numbers on his shirt; 6295," he read off the shirt. Taking a closer look at the shirt for myself I sighed in exasperation 

"5629," I said as a counter. Giving me the 'are you actually that stupid?' look. 

"He is hanging, the numbers are upside down," the summoned demon deadpanned. Grumbling, I grudgingly admitted that he was indeed correct.

It was just so frustrating that everything in this world was so messed up. Guertena must have been on some serious drugs or something because no normal person would create this! We tried putting in the amount of ladies we had seen but none of the numbers worked so we used the passcode on the left door. Putting in the numbers 6295 we heard a click and the door became unlocked. Moving into the room we went into the room and we found it to be rather small.

Inside was only a little table. On the floor a couple feet away from it was 4 little buttons. They would probably line up with the table legs. As soon as I came to realize this I heard a scraping sound. Looking back at the table I saw Rin pushing the table over to the buttons. Once all 4 legs of the table were on the four buttons we heard a very loud clank noise coming from the far right of the large room.

Since there was nothing else to do in this room, we decided to leave it. Hearing more hisses and crashes we decided the sooner we solved all of the puzzles the better, so we ended up turning to go to the right to check what the sound was about very quickly and came face to face with a white mannequin head just staring at us creepily. "Was that there before?" Paku asked weakly. I sighed internally at the weakness she was displaying. Even Shiemi was braver than her at the moment, she really wasn't cut out to be an exorcist and I fully expect her to quit after we escape this world.

"I don't think so..." Yukio replied. Shaking my head at them I said "Well it makes no difference if it was there or not. Come on brats and scaredy-cat-four-eyes! We gotta see what that table unlocked before we get attacked by more of those damned paintings." Seeming to agree with me (despite the way I had phrased it) we quickly moved towards the far right.

Among all the walls that displayed paintings, there was a room that hadn't crossed our view until now. Reaching forward, I was happy to discover that it was unlocked like I had suspected. With a triumphant grin, we walked into the room. There was nothing in said room other than a rather large mirror on the far wall. Closing the door behind us so that the ladies could not get in, (it's rather funny but they can't open doors by themselves. I felt a sense of satisfaction at their weakness) we walked up towards the mirror.

Looking into the mirror I took the time to look at everyone's faces. Paku had a haunted look in her eyes that hinted that she would soon have a breakdown. She was in no way handling this very well but she was putting on a brave face because if she didn't she would probably have a meltdown right now. I felt for her, she only came to the cram school because Izumo did. Looking over at Izumo I saw that she had schooled her features into a look of boredom, but looking past that you could see her fear.

This was after all their first mission so I couldn't really blame her for being scared. She was pretty tough too, to be able to hold a good poker face despite the situation we are in. Beside them was the Kyoto trio. Konekomaru and Shima look uneasy while Bon looks angry. That kid is always angry about something though, so I can't really be surprised. Beside them was Yukio and Shiemi who still hadn't detached herself from Yukio.

Quite frankly I wasn't surprised, anyone with eyes could tell that they both liked each other. They were just too afraid to admit it. It was stupid of them after all but I couldn't help but smile softly at them. Despite my cold exterior (well not cold but I suppose you could say uncaring maybe a little too drunk... all of the time) and my hatred for his twin brother, I cared greatly for Yukio. He had been taught by my own teacher, Shiro Fujimoto. I cared a great deal for that old man, he had helped me deal with the death of my boyfriend.

Shiemi seemed scared shitless and was only barely holding herself together. Yukio didn't seem much better but like Izumo, he was putting on a brave face for both Shiemi and the students because he was the experienced exorcist. He had to look after the class. Looking to the other side of the mirror I saw Rin and Garry. Garry had a serious look on his face that still passed as apathetic. Rin, on the other hand, held a determined look in his eyes.

Looking away from the mirror for a brief second I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Turning around I nearly jumped a foot in the air at what I saw. "No way! We closed the door! When did this get into the room?" I yelled in surprise. Sure enough, there was a white mannequin head sitting in front of the door, conveniently blocking our escape route. Grumbling I turned back and looked at the mirror only to get another big shock.

When I had turned back to look in the mirror I saw the mannequin head floating behind me just visible over my right shoulder. But now there was an awful red substance dripping from its eyes in a really unsettling way. Letting out a scream I jumped to the left. "Eeeeek!! W-wh-what is THAT?!" I shrieked in surprise. "Y..." I mumbled, "Why, you.....!" I growled as I raised my foot to kick it. I was so not ok with this gallery anymore and it did not just do that.

 

* * *

 

Ib P.O.V

Shura seemed to be pretty out of it after we had gone through the blue painting. I never really liked that blue painting. When I was 9, I had had an awful nightmare about it. Instead of giving a bouquet of roses to that blasted painting I had thought that for some reason it would be a good idea to give it my rose. Like the bouquet, he had immediately crushed and shredded my rose between his teeth. I had felt the jabbing pain as my roses petals were torn apart and devoured.

It wasn't a good experience at all and I was very glad that Garry and I had found the bouquet instead of giving him our roses. Shivering lightly at the thought I continued to observe the rest of my group. We had temporarily stopped inside a room with a long mirror on the far wall. When it had been just Garry and me, it had been a lot smaller than it was now. Now it covered almost the entire wall but before it had been a standard sized (but still full length) mirror.

The others in the group seemed to be handling it semi ok. I knew that both Paku and Shiemi were not dealing well and quite frankly Yukio didn't look much better. I could only hope that he didn't end up getting placed into Garry's group when we were inevitably separated. I remembered from my first time in this world that Garry, Mary and I had been separated. Assuming that this world would follow the same path that it had before it would happen. I am assuming this because so far this is almost identical to what happened the first time around.

Despite all the monsters around here (in all honesty, we hadn't been attacked by much yet) the Kyoto trio didn't seem too bad. Sure Shima and Konekomaru looked a little nervous but other than that they were ok. Looking at Bon and Izumo I felt a surge of pride. I know I didn't teach them anything but they were showing a very strong character at being able to (almost) completely mask their fear and uncertainty at the situation.

They had to be strong because the others weren't and I admire that. It was new to me to have so many weak people on my team. I was so used to the competence of both Class E and my own gang members that I never had to worry about babysitting people. And when I was 9, Garry and I had still been equals, (because I was a mature child and he was a bit of a coward) but the cram class... they were all so inexperienced with all of the horrors of the world.

I know I didn't have a particularly bad lot in life but just because I lived an ok life and had a decent (term used loosely. I did have semi-abusive adoptive parents that were also alcoholics and druggies but in all honesty, it could have been so much worse) childhood. I had gone through a pretty bad time in my life at one point but I have put it behind me.

During my elementary years, I had had a cutting problem. It was nothing major, but the scars would remain with me for the rest of my life. They weren't that noticeable unless you actually knew that they were there. Just thin shiny lines along my left arm. I didn't ink that side on purpose to always be reminded of what I had done in the past so I never would make that mistake again.

I quickly got over it when I went into Class E. It would be too risky to have someone find out and by then my gang was quite successful so my self-loathing had dwindled down greatly. Anyway, my childhood could have been a lot worse and I hadn't been exposed unwillingly to all of the world’s pains but I still thought realistically.

I never understood optimists because their thinking just isn't logical. One of the things that bothered me the most is that they always see a bright side even when there is none. Sometimes their optimistic side blinds them to the problem at hand. These children (I say that because they were so sheltered.) have never been introduced to any situation like this. I had learned what it was like to be hated and to be beaten by a drunk parent at the age of 6. I had learned what it was like to lose someone very close to me at the age of 9. I had killed my first target when I was 10. I had grown up and become a very successful gang leader at the ripe age of 11.

I learned all about the adult world before they were even allowed to go out without a parent. I felt somewhat bitter about that but I wouldn't trade my experiences. When I had entered Kunugikaoka junior high I had known that you have to beat all of the competition to be successful, you have to be ruthless. I wasn't raised on the hopes and dreams and little fairytales that all the other children were raised upon. I brought in enough money to support myself from my work with the gang so I was ok when my parents (again, term used very loosely) died.

I was used to the blood and the death. I worried for all of these children when the saw the dead bodies. In fact, the only one that I knew had grown up and actually become an adult was Shura. She had lost those close to her, she had seen death and loss but most importantly, she had killed. It's an unforgettable experience to kill another being. Watching the life draining out of their eyes either in a satisfied rage or a horrified silence was a completely different feeling that normal people never felt.

It was both a rush and a terrible burden. In the short time that I had known these people, I had grown to care about them, feeling a strange sense of protectiveness. I don't want them to get hurt and I don't want them to find out the truth. I know that if they found out that I was the son of Satan they would immediately hate me and assume everything I had done in the past was just to make them trust me so I could strike while their guard was down.

They wouldn't take a second glance as soon as they find out that I am the son of Satan. It would be even worse if they ever found out that I was an assassin and I killed people. That would support their theory that I was a cold-blooded demon more than everything else. They wouldn't be able to forgive me at all, so in the case that my secret ever got found out, I would have to make sure that they never found out that I was an assassin.

It would be terribly difficult to maintain all appearances but it would have to do. I couldn't risk the rejection. I care more about them then I should. I had Class E, my gang and now Garry but I don't think I would be able to deal with the constant hate from this class. Not having been hated all of last year has made my walls become soft. I was allowing things to hurt me.

I couldn't put my walls up again though or else I wouldn't be able to feel and enjoy the warmth and love that having a family brought. My situation reminded me greatly of that one saying. 'If I do not hold the sword I cannot protect you. If I hold the sword I cannot embrace you.' It always made me sad to think about. With Class E, the Tricksters and Garry, I had always been able to embrace hem while holding the sword because they all held swords too. They understood what these innocent exorcists did not. That the world wasn't going to get better, and to protect yourself you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	16. The Safe Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Ib P.O.V

Looking into the mirror I saw something strange near the door. I heard Shura jump and yell "No way! We closed the door! When did this get into the room?" wincing at the volume she yelled at I turned around and sure enough there was a white mannequin head on the floor blocking the door. Oddly enough I believe Garry had said the same sort of thing when he had freaked out over it 6 years ago. Turning back to the mirror I saw Shura look back too and then she shrieked. Again.

Looking over her shoulder I suppose I could understand why she shrieked. There was the mannequin head floating behind her as if it had an invisible body. Now, these things are very creepy already but this one little change made them even creepier. Its eyes were slowly dripping a red substance I had a sneaking suspicion was not red paint dripping slowly from its eyes. "Eeeeek!! W-wh-what is THAT?!" Shura shrieked in an ear bleeding way that only females could pull off. "Y... Why you.....!" She growled as she raised her foot to stomp on the mannequin head where it had come to rest on the floor.

Luckily Yukio stopped her at the last minute. "Stop Shura!" He yelled in shock. She seemed to blink as if awakening from some sort of trance. 

"You're right that would be rather immature of me." She mumbled as she held her head lightly. Settling with giving the mannequin head a dirty look, we set out to leave the room. Apparently, during our stay in the room, a couple other ladies had decided to walk, er crawl around. Their nails were just as blood covered and chipped as the Lady in Red's had been. We walked down to the bottom of the room in an attempt to avoid the ladies but it was futile as that was when a Lady in Green thought that would be a brilliant time to hop down from the wall.

Hissing at us as she crawled towards us we took a quick detour and made it to the final room. The only problem, was when we tried the door we found that it was locked. Shit. Frantically trying to remember what I had done the last time, I looked around us. Seeing a small twinkle on the floor where the Lady in Green had jumped off the wall, I went to investigate. The Lady in Green had gone off somewhere and I was able to grab whatever was on the floor.

Hearing the smash of glass, I managed to dodge just in time as another Lady in Red jumped off of the wall behind me. She lunged past me and I was able to make it back to my friends safely, or somewhat safely. The Lady in Red was beginning to catch up to me when I swiftly unlocked the door and shoved everyone inside, closing the door quickly behind me. Leaning against the door as I felt the Lady begin to bash the door in a vain attempt to break it down, I took a look around the room that we had temporarily barricaded ourselves in.

Once the light thumping had stopped, I stood up and began to walk around looking to see if there was anything useful. We were in a rather big room. About the size of a classroom but with a very high ceiling. It had 2 tall bookshelves and a small bookshelf in the top left corner and a small bookshelf in the top right corner. There were 2 stools placed randomly in the room and an easel on the far right wall. In the center of the room was one of the stranger art pieces from the gallery. It was a statue of what looked to be a white couch with odd red lined pattern going through it.

Noticing a window near the top of one of the taller bookshelves. I did not feel safe in this room at all. Exchanging a look with Garry he nodded and moved the bookshelf in front of the window so it would block anything from entering. After that was done we looked around to see if we could find anything useful. "Hey! Okumura-sensei, I think I found something." Konekomaru said from where he stood in front of a large painting. It had changed since when I had been there last year. Instead of showing my adoptive parents like it did last time it instead showed a picture of Garry, Mary and I, laughing as if having the time of our lives.

I glared at it. It was all a lie to make me feel guilty. I had killed Mary and this world was trying to show us what could have been because they were obviously all on Mary's side. I didn't regret killing her at all, it might not seem all that ethical of me but she wasn't human and she shouldn't have been alive. I'm quite sure that this world was only created because Guertena was on crack. Now hear me out before you go all judgy on me. The laws of equivalent exchange state that you need to trade a life for a life. Pretty simple theory really.

You've never heard how Guertena died, have you. You've probably never even heard of Guertena and you came to this fanfic for all the other fandoms keykiyoshi7443 has included. Anyway, he did indeed die a very artistic death. He was found in his art room on the floor with both his neck and wrists slit. Coincidently he was in the center of what they deemed a satanic ritual. They were wrong of course, it was a form of alchemy. He had been trying to trade his life to give his creations life. Obviously, it worked but it didn't seem to work for so many completely.

The inhabitants of this world were certainly bizarre and were purely based on his art and not all that was left unsaid. You don't see the Lady in Red's lower half so it simply does not exist. The arms, on the other hand, are in his original artwork, therefore, it exists in the Fabricated World. Everything in this world is modeled after his work whether it was shown publicly or not. Everything else was a result of Mary's personality.

He had given more of himself to Mary than any other of his creations. I could tell that he cared more for her considering her portrait was titled 'Mary' and not something stupidly philosophical. Because she held that power she too was able to create things in this world. She became the ruler and made her own part of this world, i.e. the sketchbook. I was not looking forward to seeing that place again. "Hey, Nii-san! Was this when you first came to this world?" I heard Yukio ask. I sighed and joined the others where they were standing in front of the painting.

"We were never like this, I know for a fact that I had never smiled in this world and Garry always felt uneasy around Mary. This was a figment of her imagination, what she had hoped we could have become. Mary always wanted friends and despite how much she once claimed that she wanted out of this world. I honestly think all she wanted was to have fun. And when we didn't play by her rules... Well, she didn't like it and went kind of psycho on us. But what do you really expect from a painting that stole life." I said in an even tone.

"We should probably get going... Maybe another door has opened up for us," I heard Shima say in what he might have tried to be a light tone. I nodded and tried the doorknob. It jiggled but ultimately made no movement in any way to open. 

"Shit," I swore under my breath as I turned to look at the rest of the occupants in the room. "It's locked," I muttered. Then the banging began. It was sudden and it was coming from every direction. It was loud and you could even see handprints on what little of the window showed.

The banging continued until it was coming from one area only. We all began to back away from said wall when suddenly it ripped open. A Lady in Yellow climbed through the hole in the wall and made her way around the couch to reach us. I tried the door one last time frantically but it still wouldn't open. "Through the hole in the wall," I yelled harshly at the others. Scrambling, we luckily made it out of the room only to see about a dozen more Ladies crawling around the giant room. "Shima, Shura, and Yukio, aid me in covering the rest of the group. We are going to go to that area with the vertical walls, there's a door over that way. It might be open." I ordered as we began to move past both the headless mannequins and the Ladies.

Yukio and I walked in front of the group and shot or sliced anything in our way until it backed off, while Shura and Shima made sure that those who were chasing us were never to close by. We made it without anyone losing any flower petals to the door and like I predicted, it was open. Grimacing, I shoved the door open and waved everyone through before yanking it closed behind me. Breathing heavily we entered a long corridor. It had more paintings of those damned white mannequin heads.

As we made our way (getting slower and slower as we walked. Was it just me or was it getting darker in here?) Down the hallway the mannequin head paintings seemed to change. Each one had a slightly larger smile than the one before it. And with each larger smile, more blood dripped from their eyes. I began to see dark spots begin to dance across my vision. "Well, that should be far enough then. We certainly showed THEM!" Shima cried happily. 

"C'mon guys, we should continue moving." I heard someone say. 

I had no idea who because it was like I was hearing underwater. My vision was getting darker and I felt a pain behind my eyes. I stumble and I think someone catches me. I can't tell who anymore. The pain in my head was getting much stronger and I couldn't really think about anything. I felt hands gently lower me to the floor and I think someone is letting me use their lap as a pillow. I looked up hazily to see my friends worried expressions hovering over me. I felt someone stroke my hair and I did my best to lean into that touch. Then it all went dark and I knew no more.

 

* * *

 

Garry P.O.V

We had finally made it past that one giant room. I was very glad, I remember when I had first gone through that part of the room and I had to say it was unpleasant. But it certainly wasn't one of the most unpleasant places in this world. Shura had seemed to be in a very unpleasant mood throughout the past couple rooms. I could tell she was getting angrier and angrier. It didn't help that she already hated and distrusted Karma because of who his father is. I know that she hates demons (hey I don't blame her at all for hating me. I am a full demon after all).

But she shouldn't hate Karma because he is half human too. He wasn't raised as a demon, (but to be fair he wasn't exactly raised right either but that's past the point.) he was raised as a human (despite being called demon spawn). He did his best and always considered himself human. Yet she hates him and considers him below dirt just because he has Satan for a father. I held my hate and anger in though because if I acted upon it then I would only prove why her hatred for all things demon was justified.

Luckily, we had made it out of the room and Shura wasn't that much of a hindrance. She just believed that she was always right and that her ideas were the best. She obviously didn't believe anything that Karma says and just thinks that he is a useless student. If only she knew who he really was. If only she knew what he's done before he was even a teen. Anyway, we had just exited the room and we were making our way down the hall. I shivered as I felt the eyes of the mannequin paintings follow us.

We were moving awfully slow and personally I don't blame them at all for moving slower than normal but what was bothering me was the fact that Karma was also walking a lot slower than normal. He was struggling and dragging his feet while he usually walks in a silent predatory like gait. It was certainly unnerving that he was showing signs of fatigue. I know for a fact that he can and has survived more. He brought a hand up to his head as if he had a headache and grimaced in pain.

"Well, that's far enough then... We sure showed THEM!" Shima yelled happily. 

"C'mon guys, we should keep moving," Bon said as he gestured down the hallway. Karma nodded then he tried to take a step forward and fell. I quickly caught him and lowered him gently to the ground. Putting his head on my lap the others kneeled down beside me all staring at him worriedly. His eyes were glazed as he looked up at me then his eyes slid shut and he lay there completely limp.

If I remembered correctly, he had done this last time at around the same time too. But when he was 9 it was because he went into shock at the entire situation. This time it seemed different. He wasn't fatigued but he had clutched his head. Maybe he was getting his memory of this place back. I know that after he had gotten out he had done his best to forget the exact details of this place and because he was here and he had now spent a considerable time here he was beginning to get all of the details back.

This wasn't good, he was probably getting everything back now. I gently picked him up and cradled his unconscious body in my arms. Carefully standing up and making sure not to jostle him I began to walk down the hallway. "There is a room at the end of the hallway that we can use as a safe room. There is a flower vase in there and the door doesn’t allow the monsters in because they can't open doors. I think that it's about time we had a rest. My internal clock says that we've been in here for about 10 hours and you humans need your sleep." I said as we neared the door. 

Yukio opened the door and we all walked in making sure that we closed the door behind us. "I'll keep watch over all of you until you wake up ok?" I said quietly as I took part of the wall for Karma and myself. I carefully set him down and took off my jacket. Sitting down beside him I moved him so that he lay curled up under the jacket with his head on my leg. 

"Will he be alright? After all, he just suddenly collapsed.” Yukio asked me quietly as he too set up his little area. I shrugged and popped one of the lemon candies that Karma had given me into my mouth.

"He should be" I replied, "I believe he is just regaining the rest of his memory from when he was 9," Yukio nodded at my response and soon everyone (even Shura surprisingly) was sound asleep. I sighed as I got ready for a long wait.

 

* * *

 

It had been rather silent for a long period of time. I couldn't tell the exact amount of time that had actually passed, but I could tell it had been at least 5 hours since we had arrived in this room. Soon after my conversation, (if you could even call it that) the others had soon fallen asleep. I could tell that they've had a rough day and were in need of a rest. I have no idea how much being in this world has affected them mentally and I could only imagine what they were seeing in their dreams at the moment. I discovered new things about Karma's friends sleeping habits too.

It was rather comical how their sleeping habits reflected their personality. Shima with his carefree attitude, slept spread eagle, snoring loudly and he drooled too. Next to him was Konekomaru, he was all curled up, hugging his legs close to his body in an attempt to make himself small and unnoticeable. Shima's hand rested on his head gently, but still firm enough that if Konekomaru left then he would notice. He may seem like the type to be a deep sleeper but in reality, he was indeed a warrior and no decent warrior that has known loss isn't a deep enough sleeper that he wouldn't notice if something happened to his comrade.

Next to Konekomaru sat Bon. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed his chest with his legs straight out. One of his thighs was in contact with Konekomaru's arm while the foot of his same leg touched Shima's knee. They were in somewhat of a circle, all in contact with each other in some way, with Konekomaru in the middle being protected because he is the smallest and weakest of the group. They were the Kyoto Trio, a group bonded by the terrors of the Blue Night. I knew that if anyone was going to take Karma's birth father badly it would be them.

They'd had such bad experiences involving Satan they wouldn't be able to look past his heritage to see his real self. It didn't help that he had adopted a more amicable personality to appeal to them more. One of the things that I didn't quite approve of. If he showed them this fake side of him then it would only make them hate him even more when they find out he's lied to them about everything. In middle school, he hadn't cared much about others and acted like his real self. Class E learned to love him for who he was and so when they found out about his heritage and status in Japan's underworld, they didn't bat an eye.

To be honest it was perfectly in character for him to have done so. It only filled in the blanks in the minds of Class E. He was a pretty shady guy at the beginning; coming into the term late, having a weirdly advanced weapon and hand to hand knowledge, his strategic skill and even his chosen job for the future pointed at a hidden past. He wanted to hold a high position in the government, to hold all of Japan in the palm of his hands. He was certainly ambitious and everyone who encountered him knew that he was ruthless enough to be able to successfully lead Japan and keep it well afloat and successful.

He is an incredible diplomat and is able to twist any situation into something that benefited him in some way, shape or form. He would always get the better end of the deal even if the other party didn't even realize that he did. He may have held the underworld of Japan in the palm of his hand, but to be respected publicly and not just by those who knew of his underground status was what he really sought. While he loved the hidden world and being behind the scenes he really wanted to be accepted.

It was basic human instinct to want approval and all of his life he had never been loved or had someone who was proud of him. I may have shown him those things but I had died before I could continue to build on that. He had had that one teacher that he had believed would have his back because he was in the right. He always thought that he was in the right and simply couldn't understand why defending someone was wrong. It deeply affected how he came to trust people after said teacher betrayed him. I smiled lightly to myself as I remembered the revenge that he had taken on that particular teacher. Continuing to sweep my gaze across the room, my eyes came to rest on the sleeping forms of Paku and Izumo.

They were slumped both against the wall and each other. Heads leaning against each other and shoulders touching. Their hands brushed against each other and they faced each other, seeking comfort from the other unconsciously. I smiled gently, they were so trusting of each other. It was a different type of bond than the one the Kyoto Trio had. It was one born out of a long friendship and happiness instead of survival and loss. Though very different it was just as strong a bond. I was very happy that at least some people in this world hadn't had to face loss.

The world was a harsh place but they seemed undamaged, innocent to how the world was a terrible place. It was uplifting to know that there were still people that truly needed protecting, and not just of the physical type. Only a couple feet away from the two was Yukio and Shiemi. Shiemi had situated herself so that she lay in Yukio's lap and used his shoulder as a pillow. She had snuggled into his chest and buried her face into his shoulder. Tears had leaked out of her eyes and had stained her pale round cheeks.

She seemed to be sleeping somewhat restfully but she shivered every now and then. Yukio seemed to be sleeping okay as well but he also had some tears leaking from his eyes. He unconsciously held Shiemi in a tight embrace while muttering something under his breath. It was incoherent but I caught a word every now and then. "Protect........don't hurt him........stop......please" from what I heard it couldn't have been very good a dream. I certainly hoped that it didn't have a deeper meaning than being a simple dream.

Karma had been through too much as it was and I sincerely hoped that no other 'mission' would end up like this one. Simple exorcism my ass. They just sent us on this one because they wanted to see how the 'demon' would react to an exorcist, demon and half demon. Whether it would follow a pattern or not. Stupid exorcist thinking that they always knew best when it came down to demons. History was written by the victors, so were all the books. Demons lie, it's in our nature. We use anything we can to give us an advantage. We can always lie when a situation becomes inconvenient and more often than not, the humans can't tell the difference between what is true and what is a lie.

All of the best lies always have the truth laced throughout the story. It's what makes the lie sound true. No one ever doubts a story that makes you sound stupid or that displays one of the weaknesses. It is simply not something that we'd imagine ever creating. Why would you lie about something that makes you look stupid? It seems even more believable when someone else tells it. Why would they lie?

I always found it funny how we believed for a time that lying had nothing to do with the truth. It is easier to remember a lie that has some of the truth in it. But that's beside the point. I truly felt for Yukio. He seemed oddly possessive and protective of his older twin brother. He doesn't know anything about Karma, why does he think that for some reason he is more qualified to protect Karma than Karma? It's simply absurd. He even knows that Karma had done a mission for the government!

Does he think that the government would send someone who is incapable of fighting on a mission? But to be fair, for all they know this 'mission' could have been to deliver a report. Obviously, it wasn't considering that they've seen his skills but I still find it funny that Yukio continues to underestimate his brother that he has not in any way known all his life. Shaking my head at him I completed my circle of the room.

My eyes came to rest on Shura where she sat slumped against the door. She had her sword clutched tightly in her hand and her eyes seemed to flutter every now and then. She, unlike the other (yes even Yukio), was experienced in missions like this. She knew generally speaking what she had to do to survive. Sure she didn't know anything about this world but she did know a lot about demons. On any other mission, she would have been a very valuable team member.

She was clearly a very light sleeper, as when Yukio's eyes flew open suddenly she flew into a defensive stance. Yukio had let out a yell of shock which had 'conveniently' woken everyone else. Luckily for me, Karma had remained in a deep sleep. It was a bit unsettling to see this government trained assassin fall into a deep sleep after so long, but I knew he was re-living his entire first experience here second for second.

I figure I could cut him some slack. After Yukio's (slightly girly) yell everyone else jumped awake. Shima and Bon putting themselves slightly in front of Konekomaru. Paku and Izumo got into identical crouches and Shiemi curled herself more into Yukio. After realizing that there wasn't any danger everyone turned to look at Yukio. Yukio looked highly alarmed and I raised an eyebrow at him. What on earth could have gotten this reaction from him? "Um, Garry... I had an odd dream... I was wondering if maybe you could clear a couple things up for me." He spoke quietly. 

The others now awake, settled back down and looked at us intently. Looks like they wouldn't be falling back asleep for a long time. I inclined my head towards him slightly in a gesture to continue. He hugged Shiemi close to him as he began to talk. "What I saw didn't really make any sense, well at least to me. I saw a bunch of junior high students, around 15 of them, walking cautiously down a hallway of what looked to be a high-end hotel. One of the students seemed to be helping what looked to be like Karasuma-san, along. I could tell it was evening by the darkness outside of the glass wall."

"They stopped suddenly and stood behind a bend in the corridor. There was a tall looking foreign man standing near the glass wall. He was looking out the window when suddenly he hit the window or something and it created a very large cracked dent. It didn't break the window entirely, but you could tell that this guy had inhuman strength. He said something about expecting them to be more capable and about how he would report to his boss. Then R-Ib stepped forward and started sassing him. It was really odd considering the personality that Ib has. He's always been so kind and considerate but with some hot-headed tendencies."

"No one else in his group looked appalled by his behavior though. They just looked exasperated as if it was a normal occurrence. They exchanged a couple more words about a fair fight and Ib also smashed the window. They fought a bit until the foreign man fell to the ground. Ib fell for it and walked towards him but got sprayed with a purple gas and fell to the ground. The foreign man grabbed a hold of his face and began to speak to the junior high students. But then Ib pulled the same gas on the man. The man fell for the gas revealing that Ib had faked falling for it. Then I woke up," he said. I couldn't help but sigh in relief because he hadn't seen anything that gave Korosensei away.

The scene that he'd described was a lot easier to explain than say, the fight with Gastro or even the one with Takaoka himself. I could easily explain this one. "Well as you all know Ib and Karasuma-san had worked together on a government mission. The government mission was to protect a class while they went on an island vacation after getting very good marks. It was supposed to be a simple bodyguard situation but things got a little hairy when an unknown enemy poisoned half of the class and demanded that they come to the top floor of the hotel with the two smallest students to get the antidote."

"Naturally they didn't believe the enemy and demanded that Karasuma-san and Ib help them all (well the ones who hadn't been poisoned) infiltrate the hotel and get the antidote together. Karasuma-san and Ib were planning on going alone but the class followed them anyway. They made it pretty far before they were stopped by that foreign man. He was a foreign assassin that had been hired to take them out before they could get to the antidote and so Ib fought him off."

I replied calmly. It was an accurate enough explanation without giving away to many details of the actual mission. “But why was Karasuma-san not the one to fight," Yukio said angrily "He was the adult, why would he let Ib fight when he should have been able to!" I couldn't believe this kid. He had seen Karma's skill first hand and he still thought that he shouldn't fight. 

"Karasuma had been taken down by another assassin. He had breathed in that purple gas and it had weakened him enough that he needed help walking. He was in no condition to fight." I replied in a forced calm voice. This kid annoyed me greatly. Did he really think that low of Karasuma-san?

After my explanation things lapsed into silence until Karma groaned and began to awaken. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes gently as he fully awoke. "Hey guys.... what did I miss?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	17. The Calm Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Ib P.O.V

I relieved every moment from my original time in this world. When all my memories finished replaying I woke up in Garry's lap. Groaning I began to sit up rubbing my eyes. I felt oddly rested, I hadn't slept that deep in a long time. Despite what I had unfortunately seen when I was 9 years old I had to say this time it did seem a lot creepier. While before the world had been kept nice and pristine, now it was in a state of disrepair. All the walls had awful scorch marks (probably due to my attempt to destroying the art piece) and the wall paper was pealing.

All the monsters seemed bloodthirsty and there were places where you could tell one of the poor gallery guess had met their end. Last time they only chased us and hurt our roses but by the looks of things and all of the blood everywhere they no longer hurt just the roses. Instead they tore the human apart. It was a big change from when Mary had been in charge. I really hope that Mary stays gone or else we might run into big problems. I looked around the room to see that everyone was staring at me with a look that I couldn't quite decipher. "Hey guys... what did I miss?" I asked.

Yukio was looking at me with a look of concern "Well after you collapsed, Garry led us to this safe room. He said something about you remembering what happened the first time around. We all fell asleep and I had a rather strange dream about your past. Garry said it was on your government mission. Why on earth would you fight that man?! He was easily twice as big as you!" Yukio burst out angrily. I turned to look at Garry confused "Which one is he talking about?" I asked him which just made Yukio look even more constipated. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHICH ONE?!" HE shrieked.

Ignoring him I waited for Garry's answer. "It was Grip" He said softly. I sighed in relief, it would be a lot harder to explain my fighting any of the others. I stood up and stretched. Handing Garry back his coat and popping a lemon candy in my mouth I smiled at everyone and said "Well now that we've rested it's time to start the second half of our mission.' I cheerfully. They deadpanned t my attitude but they all filed out of the room without complaint. Finding ourselves at the end of the hallway we began to walk down the stairway.

After some time (there was a lot of stairs) we made our way into a purple area. Turning left we began to walk down the hall but we heard a knock come from an alcove in the wall. Going down the alcove we discovered a purple door. Trying the handle it was locked. There was a little peephole so I decided to look into it. Finding nothing but darkness we continued to walk down the corridor. Going down the hallway it led us to an open area where there was a little belt maze. You know those things they use to control crowds and lead people in the right direction. Sometimes placed in front of things that we are not supposed to touch. You might find those in a weird snake like pattern when you are in a long line.

Luckily both the entrance and the exit had been belted off. I say luckily because there was headless mannequins wandering around the maze. Shivering as we passed we continued down the hall until we made a turn to go left. Coming up on another left turn we encountered another piece of art hanging on the wall. It was a milk puzzle. Smiling at the puzzle I remember when Garry explained it to me for the first time. Fondly touching the name plate we continued down the hall in silence. I can't really blame them for being quiet.

In fact I was rather glad they were for once in their lives quiet. This place was dangerous and I think that they had now realized that this wasn't a game. It also might have been due to Yukio dreaming about my past. The summer vacation with Class E where things had gone south. I was getting real tired of Yukio's protective streak concerning me. He seemed to think that he was the older twin. It was irritating to say the least. Why couldn't he understand that he didn't need to protect me? I was actually the one who was protecting him!

Maybe he thinks that because the Vatican will 'kill' me if I don't become an exorcist within a year he thinks that he needs to protect me so that I don't end up using my fire or revealing the fact that I was actually a demon. He was soooo naive and I honestly can't believe that he hadn’t connected the dots between my skill and the sudden new Paladin. Really it should have been obvious but I guess I couldn't really blame them for being too dense to realize the clues that were right in front of them. They probably would have died in here a long time ago without my help. Eve as a 9 year old I had been capable but them, they seemed too dumb to actually be able to survive this.

Liar's room alone would have killed at least one of them. One of them meaning Shura. At least after whatever Yukio had told them she wasn't making any sarcastic comments and passive aggressive comments about how she should lead. It was seriously becoming annoying. While usually I did have a better control on my temper this world was putting me on edge and just making this entire situation a lot worse. I know, I know, I shouldn't be complaining but let's all remember that I am only 15 years old and I am having to deal with all of this.

Down the hallway there was another little alcove with a purple door. Deciding to go through it first, we entered a small room with a statue in front of the second door and a long cord hanging in the corner of the room. I went over to the cord as Garry pushed the statue out of the way. Pulling the cord I waved everyone else to open the other door. Unlocking it we found ourselves back to where we first entered the purple area. Turning to walk the same way we chose the first time I saw some purple writing underneath a wall lamp.

Apparently Bon saw it too because he read it out loud. "What is the title of the large floor painting in Guertena's exhibition?" he said in his gruff voice. "It's the Abyss of the Deep" I said as I lead them back through the purple door shortcut. Hey I did not want to walk all the way around the thing again. Coming out of the alcove there was another purple door a couple meters away from a mirror. There was a key pad beside the door and I entered 'Abyss of the Deep' into it and voila, the door unlocked.

 

* * *

 

Yukio's P.O.V

Things just kept getting stranger and stranger, I had no idea what was going on. I had lied to Garry back in that room. I actually heard all the dialog before and after the fight. I also watched the shoot-out in what looked to be the theater. I was horrified, those were real guns! With real bullets that killed people. No exorcist below the age of 15 was even allowed near guns.

The only reason that I was able to was because my guardian was the Paladin. Well the only known and still living Paladin. Well that was until the new mysterious Paladin was named. HE apparently hadn't had any lessons from an official exorcists training facility or class.

He had just appeared out of the blue and demanded to take an exorcists exam. It was very unsettling to hear of his skill. Everyone in the exorcist’s world who actually knew a thing or two, knew the rumors. But only the highest leveled exorcists knew what his real identity was. And just like that, he disappeared after being named the new Paladin.

No one knows where he went and word had it, that he was actually the one that was supposed to be sent on this mission. According to the actual case file that only Rin, Karasuma-sensei, Garry and I had seen, this was a very high level mission. And the only reason that we had been given the mission was because A. the Paladin was "on another mission" and B. that we would have some more experienced exorcists with us.

We weren't even meant to actually try to solve this case. Once again we were being used as decoy, to see if it was actually a case of demons. Anyway, continuing on with my point I had seen more than I apparently should have. I had overheard Rin and Garry's conversation earlier. Why was just that one fight easier to explain? Sure the little demon that sat in the front and was apparently indestructible (that little demon survived al the bullets that were shot at him) was a little weird.

Especially since he (I would assume that it is a he based on the way it talked) seemed to refer to them as his students. Why on earth would a demon be the teacher if it was a government mission? Maybe he was another instructor, so odd.... Another thing to factor in was that the demon, NOT Karasuma-san, gave the orders to the junior high kids. Once again, what, for the love of Asiah made them think that it would be a good idea to send junior high students on a "government mission".

The little demon also spoke to them as if they were assassins in training. What did Rin (who, true to his word actually went by Karma) mean when he said he was prepared for anything but a physical fight? Why was he prepared? Not that I am ungrateful of his skills (probably one of the only reasons that we are alive right is because he has had past experiences and because of his suspicious sill with a sword. Where did he learn that? Maybe his parents signed him up for fencing lessons or something... Though that didn't explain how he fought as if the sword was part of him with swings powerful enough to cut a person in half) but really why did he have those skills.

From what he has told us, he grew up pretty normal other than when he was 9 and came to this hellhole. Most of us were barely holding it together and we were all being trained to deal with demons. If we can't handle situations like this, then I can't even imagine what it must have been like for a 9 year old. Sadly, this didn't appear to even be the worst thing that my brother has had to face. I can't help but feel protective of him, he hasn't even known about the horrible world of demons until now and he has already had to grow up.

First had to grow up to be able to face the horrors of what I had been told was the Fabricated World of Guertena’s. Then he had to deal with some bullshit "government mission". It looked more like they were being trained to be some sort of assassin or something, and they had been thrown into a dangerous situation without finishing their training. It alarmed me that they even went through this training. Sure Rin ha told us that he went on a government mission but he never, never stated why he even needed to go on this government mission.

I'm sure that his adoptive parents would not have approved of what he had done in this "government mission". Another good question is why did they even need junior high kids? It looked to have been a decent sized group of them too... Was the government trying to make child soldiers? I suppose it wasn't really a concerning problem, Rin said that the mission was over. There would be no need to worry right?

Ah well, it can't be helped. I sighed to myself as we made our way through the purple world. It was a bit weird how the colors changed from section to section. I can't help but hope that we do end up finding the way out soon. I know I speak (well think if you want to get technical) for most of the people in my cram class when I say that, we can't take much more of this.

When you just thinks about the concept of this world it doesn't really seem that bad at all right? Well actually being here just feels wrong. You can't lose your focus because you don’t know if something will pop out in an attempt to kill you. You wouldn't really be able to understand what the feeling is like, to actually be in danger. Some of you might but most of you won't.

It's an awful feeling that sits in the pit of your stomach and slowly eats away at you. The all-encompassing fear that just takes over all of your senses making everything look like a threat. It totally destroys any rational thoughts in your head and replaces them with useless thoughts. Exhibit A: 'Oh my god what was that sound?!' and 'oh gosh did that thing just move?!!!!'. It was truly a new feeling considering that we usually feel rather safe in a school environment.

At every school ever, student safety is very important. Because of that rule everyone seems to believe is very important, we all have a sense of security in the educational area. Even as an exorcist I haven't actually felt like I was in any danger. I always had someone to watch my back and make sure that everything was alright.

Now though, I had no illusions that everything would turn out fine. We all would have scars after this mission. Maybe not all physical ones. At least physical ones heal with time, the mental ones on the other hand, have a really bad habit of returning and reopening just when you think everything is alright, creating a rather vicious cycle.

I had a feeling that when we got out of this world, Paku would quite the program right away. She might have originally though that she was able to deal with the difficulties of being an exorcist, but it was becoming more and more obvious that she really wasn't. I wouldn't even be surprised if Shiemi quit after this too. I don't know what is really going through her head, but judging by the way she has been clutching my arm in a death grip since we arrived, she was terrified out of her wits.

I couldn't really blame her though, this world even seemed to be getting to Shura. Speaking of Shura, she was always so strong and sarcastic but this world seemed to bring out the worst in her. She was noticeably easier to anger. She was very violent and got angry at little things a lot faster than she usually did. Maybe it was due t the fact that she wasn't in any way drunk.

It wasn't a really good habit to get drunk on the job, but Shura did it anyway. It was something odd about Shura that just made her who she was. But in this case, that habit would come to bite her in th e butt. I guess it was just a little sooner than she had imagined. Well enough of my internal monologue, it's time that we continue the story.

We had just entered the password to open the door into the next area. Going through the door we entered a rather large purple room. It was about the size of a classroom with an extra meter on the ceiling. There were little book cases in the far corners and there was a large sinister looking painting hanging in the middle of the far wall. At first glance it was a normal river in the middle of the woods, until you actually pay attention to the colors used. The water was red and the trees had lost all their leaves, taking on a burned look. On the bank of the river was a corpse twisted and bleeding out.

The painting was titled "Sinister", and as soon as we had finished reading it (it being the little plate under the painting that tells you information on the piece) the lights suddenly went out. "Wh-What?! The Lights?!" I heard Konekomaru whimper from his spot near the other members of the Kyoto Trio. "It's too dark to see" I raised my voice "is everyone here?" I asked nervously, clutching Shiemi closer to me.

Many cries of "HAI" were heard throughout the room. "Wait I still have my lighter... just give me a second..." I heard Rin mutter before suddenly royal blue flames lit up the room. Turning to look where the source of dark blue light came from we found Rin holding a light next to Garry. The lighter had the warm deep blue flames sprouting from it in a decent sized flame that allowed light to hit all corners of the room.

The light revealed that there had been a bunch of scrawled words around the room, all done in different brightly colored crayons. "Don't Kill Me, Stop, Don't, No, Help" were written in large childish handwriting all over the floor and walls. "I don't think this is good for my mental health" I heard Paku mutter from where she was huddled close to Izumo.

Quickly we exited the room. When leaving the room we found a piece of paper stuck to the door. With a typewriter like font words were written in red. "A notice to all visitors. There is a strict ban on fire-starting implements in the gallery. We request that you please report the use of any matches, lighters, or the like. Should the use of such implements be reported to the staff" I read out loud. Pointedly looking at Rin. He gave me what was supposed to be an innocent look and said "But Yukiooooo, you know that I hate rules!" He whined while pouting.

I frowned mockingly at him before motioning to lead on. We walked down the hallway until we encountered a strange set of foot prints. They were a deep red, not like that of red paint, but more like drying blood.  Following them we were led to an open door. After going through the door we entered yet another purple corridor. Taking a left, we continued down a long series of hall ways. On one of the wall was a note that said "Which one is it really?” It felt very sinister and I felt a chill run down my spine.

Coming to the end of the series of hallways we encountered a strangely shaped room. It was shaped like the letter U and on either side was purple doors. There was a little panting in the space between the doors. Deciding to check the left room first, we all walked into the room, carefully closing the doors behind us.

Inside the room was a couple of tables and some work benches. The benches were up against the side wall while the tables were on either side of the room. It looked like a pretty good craft room, had there been tools of some sort. On the benches there were many cute little bunny ceramic statues in bright pink and white. There was also one green one. Maybe there was something important about that one.

On the far wall there was a large painting of a pink rabbit. It stared down at us with a very judging look as we walked around the room to examine stuff. After some time, we decided that there was nothing there that we needed we went to leave the room, but as soon as Izumo passed the green ceramic rabbit, it fell off the bench and shattered all over the floor.

Izumo jumped about a foot into the air but she would probably deny that it ever happened. Looking closer at the shards of ceramic there was a small shiny purple object.  Bending down elegantly, Izumo picked up the shiny thing. Delicately holding out the object that we can now see looks like a lovely purple key, she hands it to Rin.

Deeming that now for sure there was nothing else left, we finally left the room. Despite the cute appearance of the bunny rabbits, I couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable in that room. Not that I didn't feel uncomfortable in all of the other rooms, but for some reason, that room was so much worse. It was an odd sense of foreboding that made me feel worried. What could this cute little bunny room actually do to us, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	18. To Take Separate Paths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Shima P.O.V

After leaving the room filled with rabbit themed shit, (awfully weird if you asked me!) we made our way over to the small hallway that lead us to the next door in the U shaped room. I would bet that the key that we had found was for that other door. As we made it into the hallway, we suddenly stopped.

Something was different, and I had a feeling it wouldn't work out well for us. There was a lone painting on the small wall. When we had passed it before it had been only a small flower in the painting, but now it had grown until it looked like it would almost crawl out of the painting. It was highly unsettling.

Then suddenly it got worse. It did crawl. Out of the painting came these long vines covered in thorns. Then there was a loud rumble (I imagine this is what an earthquake would sound like) and stone vines sprouted from the ground. Lucky for us, both Garry and Rin pulled one half of the group out of the way each.

It was just in time too, and soon the entire pathway had been completely cut off by stone vines. There was no way we could get across anymore. I turned to look at who was one my side of the vines. It turn out that Rin had been the one to grab me along with Paku, Konekomaru and Shiemi.

Looking over the vines, I was just barely able to see the others because of my height. I could see Garry beginning to help Yukio, Izumo, Bon and Shura up. Shura looked pretty pissed. I heard Rin groan from where he stood closer to the stone vines than the others. "I was afraid that this would happen" he said quietly to himself (I still heard him though) before turning to face all of us and raising his voice.

"It seems that we will have to split up. There wasn't a way around these vines 6 years ago either. But don't worry, we will meet up again before this is over. We won't be leaving anyone behind this time." Garry looked sad as he stared across the vines at Rin. But he nodded silently and turned to face his group, giving quiet instructions. Likewise, Rin turned to us and said "come on, we'll be going through that door. We got the key."

Nodding in silent acceptance, we followed Rin calmly into the next room. He quickly unlocked the door and ushered everyone inside, giving one last glance in Garry's direction. The room we had entered was rectangular and completely filled with boxes. It was like an odd art storage room. There were some mannequins and other art supplies in the room. Rin turned towards us and then said in a commanding voice "we should search the boxes, just in case there is anything useful"

Nodding in agreement we soon split up and began to search all of the boxes.  It felt like hours, but it wasn't really all that long, probably only 15 minutes of searching when I heard Paku shout something. "Hey I think I found something!" Rushing over to see what she found interesting I was greeted with an interesting sight. Paku was holding a palette knife that seemed to have an odd mixture of dried red paint on it. It varied in color and despite its color, did not for once, look like blood.

"Do you think that maybe we could use this Ib?" she asked softly with a childlike look in her face. Rin looked down at the palette knife in distain. "I highly doubt it Paku-san, and I would suggest you leave that here." He said stiffly while he moved to look in more boxes. Paku looked slightly crest fallen and seemed to have an inner debate as to whether she should listen to Rin or not. She looked up at me and quietly asked "do you think Ib would notice if I kept the knife? I don't think an extra weapon would hurt"

I thought about it. It couldn't be that bad, god only knows that Paku isn't exactly the best fighter out of all of us. Maybe it would be a good idea to have Paku keep it with her. "Why don't you just keep it in your pocket? That red paint looks like it is long since been dry so it's not like you'll get your lose dirty or anything." I said finally. She smiled softly and shoved the little knife in a pocket.

Just as she stood up, there was a shout of alarm. "Ahhh!" screamed Konekomaru as the mannequin statue slid in front of the door that we had entered from. I hurried over and pulled Konekomaru away from the mannequin. Shiemi and Rin ran over and inspected the statue. "It won't budge" Shiemi said quietly "it' practically rooted to the ground. No amount of strength would be able to push that out of the way." Sighing, Rin stood up from where he had been crouching near the foot of the mannequin and grumbled "seems we have to move forward then.”

He moved elegantly in one fluid motion, and began to walk towards the door opposite to the one the statue stood in front of. Opening the door we all filed after Rin, Shiemi and Paku clutching each other and I held Konekomaru tightly to my side. We entered what looked to be an S shaped hallway. There was oddly enough two windows on one of the walls, and as we passed it, shadows of people walked with us. It was highly unnerving and I couldn't help but clutch Konekomaru closer.

He was the baby of the Kyoto Trio, so Bon and I did our best to protect the little monk. There was an odd tapping sound. As if some small object was falling down some stairs. Turning the corner we were greeted with just that. There was a little ball of red that was slowly falling down the stairs. As it got closer and closer, we stepped out of its way. When in finally hit the wall, it exploded, coating the wall in fresh wet red paint.

It made a rather disgusting squelch sound as it hit the wall. Wrinkling our noses in disgust we continued to make our way up the stars. At the top of the stairs there was a horrifying painting. It was rather large and took up the entire space in front of the stairs. It was a painting of a clown. But not just any clown, it was like a horrible mash up of the clown from Stephen King's It, the clown from American Horror stories and that clown from the Poltergeist. It reached out with its clawed fingers as if it were about to scratch at us.

It had bright blue eyes that had such a cold and insane stare. Its yellowing sharp teeth were set in a grin, only helped with makeup. And where its nose should have been there was an empty hole. Just a round space with no paint on it.  A blank gray canvas.  I couldn't help but shiver as I felt its eyes follow us as we walked past it. I felt really bad for Rin now.

How could he have dealt with this as a 9 year old? We were all on edge and probably regretting our decision to become exorcists and we were teenagers. Heck some of us had witness demonic activity before and we were still ready to crap our pants. How could a 9 year old child deal with this, especially considering he had no knowledge on the demonic world? Some might consider it better to have no knowledge of this world but in reality, it really wasn't.

Wouldn't you want to be prepared, at least knowing what you are running into, instead of going in head first not having a single clue as to how serious the problem actually is? It's so horrible that I can't help but hate whoever decided it would be a good idea to send children here. That made me think more and more about how much I hated the Vatican. They were the ones who thought it would be a good idea.

Oh yeah let's send in the new recruits, who technically weren't even exwires yet, into a hostile situation where people had gone missing and were most likely murdered by a demon. Fucking great idea. Really, what was even going through their heads? Why on earth did they think that this was a good idea? We were so terribly inexperienced and what if Shura and Yukio were somehow incapacitated. I highly doubt that this is supervised or a test of some sort.

Though it would be nice if after this we don’t have to take the exwire exams. This has to be at least a B rank mission. No way would this be a D ranked mission. If you didn't already know, well missions are ranked by difficulty and danger in letter. D ranked mission were given to the newbies, the ones who were still considering becoming an exorcist, so that they could get a taste of what it was like. This was the period where the most people seemed to drop out.

After new recruits had taken the exwire exams they were given the C ranked missions. The ones that actually dealt with harder demons that required multiple exorcists (well exwires) to take down. One of the reason we always went as a class on these missions. An experienced exorcist would find these pretty easy to take out, but since we were still beginners, they were pretty challenging. After that came the B ranks. Now these ones were actually dangerous.

Like, they could make a real exorcist require at least 3 other exorcist to take it down. It mainly involved demons that had been around for a while and had changed the climate and environment to fit their needs and greatly hinder us. It made it really hard for us to actually fight these things. It was like fighting a shark under water. You were bound to have great disadvantage. But there were still tougher missions. The A ranked missions required years of training as an exorcist and at least 100 B ranked mission to be even considered for the mission.

Therefore, those missions paid the most. It had to be a very good price for the constantly busy very skilled exorcists to take these missions. Because there were so many of these level missions, and so few competent exorcists, the higher ranking ones were constantly busy and rarely had holidays. Something that I had heard though, was that when they did have free time, they went to Purgatory to get drunk off their asses.

This is after all a very demanding line of work. It demanded so much of you physically and mentally that it was a very hard living. But the missions paid well and it was better than working at a McDonalds. Hey, it did pay the bills and it did satisfy those adrenaline cravings so it wasn't all that bad. But sadly the A ranked missions weren't even the most difficult ones. There were still S ranked missions and SS ranked ones.

S ranked missions were only for the very top members of the Vatican and were mainly if a demon king had managed to escape and was causing problems. The SS ranked missions were like apocalyptic level bad and were reserved only for Paladin level exorcists. Luckily for us these were highly uncommon and almost never happened. This mission we were on was most like a very high B or maybe a low A.

I admit that at first it did appear to be a lower ranked mission, but if you actually got into the case file you could see that this was really a dangerous case. Sometimes I wonder if the Vatican are just idiots. "They do what they do for a reason" blah blah blah. No one really believes that, after all, how could this work out in anyone’s favor but that of the villain? Was our government corrupt? Sorry, stupid question.

Wow, I got really off topic, didn't I?  See this is what clowns do. They distract you from the task at hand with their sheer ugliness. I have never actually met someone who like clowns. How could someone have thought that clowns were a good idea? I mean, so many scary movies have been made with you guessed it, Mother. Fucking. Clowns. Then some genius is all like "I'm going to buy my kid a clown doll. I'm a fucking genius!" Hey sorry, but I get really worked up about the love of clowns. Like, is it really necessary that people have clowns?

Are they really that entertaining. Like I have honestly met a child who said that their favorite Harry Potter character was Voldemort, and honestly that doesn't bother me that much. Like I guess I could see why. He does have some pretty cool powers, and he rose to power very quickly. But really, REALLY?! This is just fucking stupid.

I groaned softly, my inner monologue just got really stupid really fast. "Shima, are you ok?" Konekomaru asked softly. I smiled down gently at him. "I was just thinking, nothing you should worry yourself over" I said calmly so to him. He nodded and continued to trudge along. "Hey Rin" Paku said so softly you had to struggle to hear her. "Why do you think that they gave us this particular mission? Why didn't they give this to someone more experienced?" Her quiet voice was somehow heard by all of us. Rin stopped for a moment and glanced over his shoulder.

His eyes were cold, their molten gold color seemed to shift like it was water. It betrayed what he had been hiding from us this entire time, if only for a second; fear. Then it was gone and he had closed it off. The ever shifting gold froze and hardened into a determined and pissed off stare" I honestly don't know." he said finally in a very grim tone. We didn’t talk for the rest of the walk to the next room.

 

* * *

 

Izumo P.O.V

The painting of vines actually moved. Like it fucking crawled out of its frame and moved it to close off the hall. I didn't have enough time to react, but luckily, Garry had grabbed me and managed to get me out of the way before I could get crushed by the mass of stone vines. I was momentarily in shock so I really wasn't paying much attention, well that is until I felt someone shake my shoulder. I looked up from the fetal position that I had somehow found myself in, to see Garry looking down gently at me.

It was only then that I realized that a couple tears had escaped my eyes. Furiously I wiped them away and stood up. Looking around I was disappointed to see that among the people I was grouped with (Shura, Yukio, Bon and Garry) was not Paku. She had been my pillar. The only reason that I hadn't broken down so far was because she was with me. I felt really embarrassed that I had let those few tears slip.

In all honesty, I was terrified. When I had decided that I had wanted to become an exorcist, I always imagined that we would end up helping people and performing exorcisms on poor children that had been possessed. I never imagined that it would be this terrifying or that we would end up being the ones that were hunted. I quickly composed myself and set a glare on my features. This would certainly be interesting since Garry (whom from what we knew was quiet, calm, girly, and generally a very nice person) was stuck with all of the hot headed people, while Rin (who was generally hot headed and quick to anger) got all the weak quiet students.

Not to be mean to Shima, but he honestly didn't try hard enough otherwise he would actually be a generally good Knight, but his footwork was sloppy, especially compared to Rin's. "Alright, you heard Rin" Garry began as he stared all of us down. "We don't really have a choice in splitting up, so you will have to follow my lead. We are determined not to lose someone this time alright. Just do what I tell you to and please do not do anything rash."

He glared at Shura and Yukio "It will not help any of us in any way. Do you understand?" he asked in a dangerously calm voice. I actually felt fear in Garry's presence for the first time ever. It was quite a shocking and new experience. I mean, he always seemed like the calm side of Rin, the one who stopped him from ever going on a dark path and maybe becoming an assassin or something dark like that.

Knowing his skill (even though it was pretty obvious he was holding back at least some of his skill) he could easily do it. That is a scary thought though. Shura seemed incredibly pissed off for some reason, after all she really didn't try to keep it secret that she hated Garry so much. "We need to go back into the room with the rabbits. We'll try to find another way out." Garry said as he began to walk towards the rabbit room. Grumbling under our breath, we still followed him, because no matter how much we hate him or hate not being in charge, we all knew that they were our best chance of getting out of here.

It was so odd to think that we were in some sort of pocket dimension. I thought this type of thing only happened in horror anime like Corpse Party or something. This was so bizarre, and to be quite honest, it still didn't feel real. We've been chased and hurt by things here and yet, it all seems like a bad dream. I'll wake up from this and everything will be ok right? Well I should at least try to survive even if it is a dream.

I think I read somewhere that if you die in your dreams, then you die in real life. But I have also heard that in a dream, you wake up right before your untimely demise. Wow... never thought I'd ever use that phrase. We entered the room once more and I was horrified by what I saw. Before, when we had been in this room, I just felt a sense of unease. Like there was an illusion in place, and it turns out that I was right.

Instead of the pretty but creepy ceramic dolls, there was instead sinister blue dolls. They were pretty simple in make, but they were certainly creepy.  They seemed rather odd, very childlike in make. They were sewn together with simple black thread and they had large white eyes. They were all wearing different colored dresses. Another thing I think I should mention is that they were everywhere.

String hung from the walls and the large rabbit painting had been traded for a large doll staring down at us. I shivered as I began to gingerly search throughout the room. It wasn't long, luckily for us, until there was a shout of victory. Turning towards the sound, I saw Garry in the process of moving a book shelf over to reveal a hole in the wall. We all rushed over as Garry peered through it.

"I think we can all fit through this, it was actually a lot smaller when I was here last." he said though the second part was a lot quieter. I put my head down in silent respect for the others. It was pretty obvious by how torn the edges of the hole were, that someone had frantically ripped the wall apart to get through. Once we were inside the short tunnel (it was actually so short that when you looked through the hole you could see the their side.) We all got down on our hands and knees (or a retarded couch complete with the velociraptor arms) and began to crawl through.

It was pretty dark in the tunnel despite being able to see the other side. I could only see the light at the end of the tunnel. The ground beneath my hands and knees felt like rough plywood. There was an odd sticky substance every now and then though. When I finally made it out (it may have looked like a short tunnel but in all honesty it felt like forever) I quickly stood up and checked my hands to see if I had got any of the sticky stuff on my hands. I was horrified by the sight, because on my hands was semi dry blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	19. Thinking of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Izumo P.O.V

I shrieked in disgust as I frantically tried to rid my hands of the sticky substance. You could easily tell that it was old, but it was somehow still wet and it was absolutely disgusting. I whined as it dried on my hands. The others after hearing my scream came rushing through the little crawl space. They looked worried. I shrieked and pointed at them. They were covered in blood. They looked down at themselves after they saw where I was pointing. Garry seemed troubled at finding that he had congealing blood on his hands and clothes, while others like Yukio and Bon were freaking out. Shura seemed saddened.

"It seems we've found another missing persons place off demise" she said softly. I groaned as I looked around the room. This would surely stain and it is so bad to have dead man's blood on your clothes. When - if- we get out of here I would have to throw away this outfit. People would think I was a murderer or something if I went home on the tube like this. The room that we had found ourselves in was L shaped and medium sized. In the bottom of the L there was 5 hanging cords with a sign that said "pull me" placed on the wall behind them. There was also a triangular shaped hole in the ground.

In front of where we stood there was a deep purple door with purple writing beside it. "There is no exit. There is no reason" I read off the wall "well what the heck is that supposed to mean?!" I exclaimed angrily. What were we supposed to do if there was no exit? No way was I going to leave Paku!

Garry face palmed lightly and began to inspect the cords. "I'm pretty sure that there were only two gallery guests who had been taken together. I believe that they were two teenagers. I don't remember who they were but it was rather unfortunate. I believe they had been going on a date." He said thoughtfully "We should be able to pull one of these cords. A short while later, a triangular prism will fall and we'll be able to open the door. There really isn't a point to trying to break down the door Bon" he continued.

I turned around to see that Bon had been about to try to kick down the door. I raised my hand to my mouth to muffle my snicker. It was odd how Garry knew that Bon was going to try something even without being able to see. Bon may have backed down but Garry's dismissal seemed to make Shura all the more determined.

She marched right up to the door and raised her foot and attempted to kick down the door. There was a loud clang as her shoe met the door. "I told you it would be pointless. It's made out of some reinforced metal so it would be pointless to try and kick it down. You'd need some serious monster strength to even be able to make a dent." He said mockingly as he carefully felt each cord. They looked pretty medieval, complete with blue tassels. He walked up to one of them and pulled. There was a sound in the distance.

About a minute later I heard something being knocked over far above us. I looked up to see a rather large box thing falling from above. The view from down here reminded me of the view from the base of a cavern. There was a distant white light and the walls were all pitch black. It was kind of beautiful if you thought about it. The only way I had been able to see the box in the near blackness was that it was rapidly falling towards me.

With a surprised yelp, I leapt out of the way just time. The triangle prism fell down beside me. Garry smirked in victory as he walked over to me. He gently picked up the triangular based box thing and placed it into the hole in the ground. It slid in with a click and then there was a loud metal clank. Turning around to look at the purple metal door just in time to see it creak open. It was rather sinister if you thought about it.

Sighing we all filed through the door. Past the door was a long corridor. When we came to the end of it there was a turn and another long corridor. Seeing where this was going, I groaned. At the corner there sat one of the creepy blue dolls with painted words on the wall beside it. Hello there, adventurers... I don’t like being alone... Take me with you...!" Yukio read. I shivered. Something about these dolls was just so disturbing.

They were creepy sure, but in the same way that a child is creepy. What really scared me was their 'messages'. We continued on until we came across another doll with another sinister message. "Hey why aren't you taking me?" The message on the wall seemed to demand in a sharp tone despite that fact that there was no voice. Coming to another corner we went up and found a third doll. "Why are you ignoring me? Do you hate me?" I read.

This just kept getting weirder and weirder. This was soooo wrong on so many levels. Quickly running down the hall there was another doll and another message. What was this world trying to tell us? "Hey, play with me! I know lots of fun things we can do..." I was sickened by these seemingly innocent messages. Why was this happening?

The hall seemed to narrow even more as we turned down another corner. Judging by the turns we've made, we have been going down a snake like corridor. When we reached the end of one section of a corridor a doll seemed to great us. "I've got lots of friends, too... I'll introduce you!" was messily scrawled across the door this time. Halfway down the corridor there was a doll positioned as if it had just finished writing. Its little stuffed hand was still covered in purple paint and the message was even messier than before. "Be here forever..."

Shivering, we practically sprinted to the end of the hall. Why were these messages still here? Finally we made it to a door. Unfortunately, there was a doll directly in front of the door. "How long are you going to follow us" demanded Shura? She was practically blowing steam out of her ears. It was no secret that she hated anything to do with demons and this entire situation was getting on her last nerve. "Enough of this! We're busy here, and we're not going to be your buddies!" she shrieked in a very un-lady like manner.

Roughly shoving it out of the way she pushed on through the door... only to face yet another large room with more doors and a room inside it. Bon groaned in frustration at seeing the amount of doors we had to check out. "We might as well split up and check different doors. Holler if you find anything" Yukio said. I grumbled as I went to check a door. All of the others went and checked the doors around the perimeter leaving me with the ominous room inside of our original room.

When I placed my hand on the door knob I was surprised by how cold it felt. Suppressing shiver, I tried to turn the handle only to hear a click and to have it not budge. Groaning I yelled "THIS ONES LOCKED" loudly. I sighed and began to walk around the room and saw a doll slumped against the wall beside the door that Shima had chosen to look in. Just like all the times before when we had seen those god damned dolls, there was a message splattered against the wall in purple paint.

"I'll always be with you... My home is just nearby..." Greaaaat that wasn't creepy at all. No sir. "HEY GUYS i THINK i FOUND SOMETHING" Shima yelled from the room. Everyone quickly ran over only to find that the room contained 7 pedestals. There was a giant paint pallet on the wall and a note placed beneath it. Shima stood in front of the note. "It says; Collect the seven balls of paint... Then the room will be colored and your bridge will be made. I wonder what that means" he said thoughtfully.

"I wonder what theses 'balls of paint' even are. Are they simply and orb of wet paint? How would we pick that up?" Yukio said thoughtfully. We decided to leave the room to explore the other rooms together. We passed over the door with a sprout on top of the door (I've kind of stopped question the weirdness of it all by now) and we moved on to another section of the room. There was a wall with two paintings on it. One was titled "worry" and was simply part of a face that stared at you. The other was moving. This was certainly some messed up Harry Potter shit right there.

It was a painting of a juggler as he threw colored balls up in the air in fancy patterns. A sinister voice came from the painting 'What year was I born?" it asked. Underneath the painting was a simple 4 digit keypad. Great, I highly doubted that anyone actually remembered what year the blasted painting was born in. Deciding not to enter anything we went to turn around when suddenly we heard an insane laugh. “W-R-O-N-G!” It giggled hysterically. Suddenly there was a loud slapping sound and a rose petal fell to the floor. Turning to look at who’s petal had fallen I saw Garry with a rather large bright red handprint on his face. Deciding to leave this puzzle to later, we moved on.

There was only 1 other room that we hadn't tried yet so we entered. The room was filled with some sort of red gas. It rose from certain spots on the floor in big red puffs making it a bit hard to see. What I could make out from this room was a large hanging cord near the far right corner, a table with a dry cracking vase in the far left corner of the room, and a red umbrella about two steps to the right. The red gas was making a bit hard to breathe and I could feel my rose - that I still clutched tightly in my right hand - begin to wilt ever so slightly.

It was an odd aching sensation. I quickly took a couple steps and grabbed the umbrella. But I guess I wasn't quick enough because I lost 2 petals. It burned. Grabbing the umbrella as quickly as possible I ran out of the room clutching both the red umbrella and my wilting rose tightly to my chest. I fell to my knees panting just outside the room. I slowly pulled my arm from where I was clutching the rose tightly to my chest to examine the damage. The rose’s petals were all slightly wilted and in fact had started to turn black.

The former beautiful purple petals were all shriveled up and crumpled from my tight grip. It was noticeably missing a few petals and all in all, it looked rather pitiful. My vision blurred a bit as a wave of pain hit me. I had no idea that losing petals would feel like this. Groaning, I staggered over to the table near the wall. I clutched onto it for support as a wave of black dots danced across my vision. I felt my hand touch something cold and I looked up. It was a blue crystal vase.

All the other vases I had seen in this world had so far been made of a navy clay. They were old styled and had little to no design to them. They were merely designed to hold water. This vase was very different. First of all, it was made of bright blue crystal or glass. I couldn’t really tell and who really knows with the messed up world we are in now. I quickly glanced inside the vase to see if there was any water, wincing when the sharp light that was reflected off the vase reached my eyes.

I sighed in relief as I saw that there was indeed crystal clear (pardon my pun) water inside the vase. I quickly placed my rose into the water. I slowly slid down to lean against the wall as I let the soothing sensation the healing water created wash over my body. It was certainly an odd feeling but I had to say, it was 100 times better than losing petals. Soon, too soon, the healing sensation stopped and I was able to stand again without pain.

I carefully stood up and took my rose from the vase. Cradling it in my right hand, I examined the red umbrella with my left hand. It was rather long and had a pointed tip. It was well balanced and would make a pretty good weapon if the need arose.  The handle was curved like a cane and was made out a beautiful dark brown wood. The color of the actual umbrella was a bright crimson red, almost like Rin’s rose but the exact same shade as the Lady in Red.

It wasn’t the most sinister thing we’ve encountered so far – I’m pretty sure that the dolls take the cake for this one – but it was certainly not the most innocent thing here. If I’d learned anything from my time here (even though it wasn’t that long) it’s that nothing in this world could be trusted. It was simply too dangerous to trust anyone but yourself. Unfortunately I have to put my trust in Garry and the rest of our group.

Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, you know, to trust a group of people. The only problem is, we are not united in any way. Sure we all have a common goal and we understand that Garry and Rin are our best shot at getting out of here, but that doesn’t magically make us a united front. We were weak and had many people that refused to understand that we need to watch each other’s backs to survive. I know it’s pretty hypocritical of me to be thinking this, but we need to work together and trust each other to do the right thing and watch our backs if we want to make it out of this alive.

Normally I loathe the idea of having to trust buffoons like Bon, but I did not want to be stuck here longer than I had to be because we couldn’t work together because of silly grudges. It was kind of sad to think, but this would also most likely end up being our exorcist team in the future. We would have to work together at some point if we wanted to become exorcists. It was definitely much better to begin to grow team bonds here than before we end up in another situation like this.

We weren’t prepared for this one and I highly doubt our attitude towards the entire situation has been helping us at all. It only made sense for us to grow closer. Our success actually depends on us being able to trust each other. I really didn’t want to, but there will definitely be plenty more missions after this. It was inevitable, and if we come out of this one successful, the higher ups will probably

Give us harder missions than the other trainees would get.

I sighed and turned around to look at the vase again. Usually after using a vase you could tell there was no more water in it but something was different about this one. It was odd but I looked into the vase and I was very surprised. It didn’t look like any of the water had been used at all. I grinned lightly. Maybe something was turning in our favor. This vase was definitely different than the others, so maybe it can be used multiple times. This would certainly help us a bunch if we could use this vase multiple times.

After examining the vase a bit more, I turned and began to walk back towards the room filled with the red gas. The others, having seen me make a wild dash out of the room had all come out to see what was wrong. “I found an umbrella” I said in mock triumph. I was still a little dizzy after losing so many petals and I began to tip over. Luckily, Bon had run over and steadied me before I actually fell over. I smiled lightly up at him in thanks. He grunted and turned his head to face away from me but I could see him blush lightly.

I regained my footing and turned to look at Garry expectantly silently asking “what do we do now?” He seemed to think for a long moment then he came to a decision. “Well, this world is built upon puzzles. We need to solve a puzzle to move on. Our current puzzle is finding 7 paint balls. They are merely spheres of color and shouldn’t be that hard to find, though you might need to solve a puzzle or two to find the ball of paint.” He began speaking lowly and clearly.

“We are going to split up to search for the paint ok? I know that splitting up anywhere is a terrible idea, but there isn’t really anything that dangerous at the moment. One thing that I will make absolutely clear, you will not under any circumstances enter the room inside this room. The one with the cold sinister handle. It’s not safe and we will leave that room til last. Am I understood?” he asked, his eyes hardening with determination.

Nodding, we all went our separate ways. I walked around a bit until I found myself in front of the juggler’s painting. I felt like I had read about it in a book while we had been waiting for Rin to wake up. Desperately racking my brain I finally came up with 4 numbers. I pressed the buttons 6-2-2-3 and I heard a click. There came the same damned giggle but instead of being slapped, a paint ball was thrown at my face. I smiled in triumph as I bent down to pick up the little ball of paint.

 

* * *

 

 

Shiemi P.O.V

There was an eerie silence after Shima had asked his question. We continued past the horrible painting a clown. I had always been terrified of clowns ever since I was a little girl. To be fair, I had been terrified of almost everything, well except for Rin. Though I had known him as Karma. It was a pity he had to change his name. Karma suited him much better. Rin didn't suit him nor his real personality. I knew what he had shown towards the other cram school students was fake. He was much more closed off and cool headed (though still ready to pick a fight with anyone anywhere) before.

I wasn't as naive as everyone thought, and that's why this world bothered me so much. It was horrifying and yet, it had a child-like feeling about it. As if, I might have been fascinated by this world had I been younger. Like it was molded by a child. Not created, as there was still so much here that a child would simply not understand. It was as if, a child had been trapped here, and had not only chosen to change this world, but had had all the time in the world to have it suit their needs.

I was shocked out of my thoughts by the splatter of paint. Looking up in shock I saw something had been splattered on the wall. Then, there was another, and another, and another! All in a quick succession. I glanced at the wall as I clutched tightly to Paku's arm. Looking closer at the wall, I could see that the paint spelt out words. "I wanted you to have fun, Ib" I read out loud slowly, the others stopped after hearing me begin to speak. "What are you reading Shiemi?" Konekomaru questioned.

"We could've had a fun world without any adults" I continued anyway. Soon the others came closer to see what we were looking at. "We would have been together" Paku read quietly. "You, me, and our friends" she finished, somehow even softer than before. I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I almost jumped out of my skin, until I realized it was just Rin. "This message was for you...wasn't it" I said while turning to look up at him.

His eyes were shadowed as he nodded slowly. "Garry and I had been separated before, when we were here..." he closed his eyes "we had been traveling with Mary, since we hadn’t known she was a painting then. I traveled through these halls with her. These messages were very similar. But they were obviously in the present tense. She had been trying to convince me to stay with her. I guess she is trying to remind me of what we could have had" he said tiredly.

He squeezed my shoulder lightly before let go and continued in to the door at the end of the hall, just a bit past the painted words. Giving one last look at the words splattered on the wall we all continued on. This place was just weird. I don't know if I’ll ever be able to look at an art gallery the same way ever again. That probably isn't something I should be worrying about right now, I should really be worrying about getting out of here.

Hopefully nothing changed too much from when Rin was here last. It's weird to think that Rin has been here before. Was it the same? How much had changed and what had changed? This world really was fascinating and I wish I could know how this was possible. Who created this world, and more importantly why? What was its purpose?

I shook my head lightly as I walked arm in arm with Paku behind Rin. I feel kind of bad for thinking this, but Rin was given the three weakest members of the group. Konekomaru, Paku and I weren't meant to fight. We were better suited for the sidelines. Shima was ok, but being burdened with having to protect 3 other people wasn't something that helped him. He seemed to be handling it, but I had known Rin longer than the others. I could somewhat tell when he was uneasy or was feeling a strong emotion.

Most of the time it was very hard to tell, especially later, when he was around 11. He started to close himself off more, he became outwardly charming and I'm sure any other person would have thought it was completely natural. But his eyes were cold and filled with pain. He got better and better, and by the time he was 13, you would never guess that he had once been selectively mute.

That's right. At one point he had been selectively mute. He had said he went through a lot when he was 9. When I was younger I couldn't understand what could be so terrible that you chose not to speak. But if what he told us was true, and if this world was really that horrible then too, I suppose I could understand why. I mean, I think that I will take a vow of silence for a week after we leave this world. In silent memory for the horror of this... world.

Anyway, he had not spoken, nor used sign language until about a year after I'd met him. We had been growing special roses that were different colors on one bush. Something a demon did to it caused the mutation. As soon as he'd seen them, he bought a blue rose every week. Soon my mother invited him to help tend the flowers with us. It had been wonderful, as a 10 year old he had been very shy. He was sweet but started gaining confidence.

Then everything had changed one day, he was closed off. His eyes had lost their innocence. It made me rather sad but because I was also 10, I had no idea. Something that hardened him happened. When he came for his weekly rose he had been covered in bruises. The bruises began to disappear soon enough though, being replaced with a feral grin. He became a punk in every way, well except for his fashion sense.

I had never seen him wear anything but his school uniform for the first 2 years I knew him. This one time though, on the summer break, he showed up in some casual clothes. They were very weird, a bit big for him. I had begun to suspect that he didn't own any other clothes. My suspicions were confirmed when Rin - or Karma at the time - brought with him some friends.

 

*Flashback*

_I lightly dusted the shelves as I hummed a little tune to myself. Restocking and organizing as I went. It had been a quiet day. Almost no business, and what business we had was an exorcist seeking some healing herbs._

_Despite the rather large amount of demon related plants we had, we also sold normal plants. We often made bouquets for love struck teenagers and adults. Other than that we supplied exorcists with herbs and holy water. I sighed quietly to myself wondering when someone would come into the shop._

_My mother was out running errand and my grandmother was tending the garden so I was alone in the shop. I wonder when Karma would come next. For 3 years he'd come every week for a royal blue rose. He never told me why, but as soon as he'd seen our special demon roses - that we grew specially and came in the 3 primary colors - he'd immediately bought a bouquet of royal blue and crimson roses. Since that day, he came back every week for a blue one._

_It had been about a week since he last bought one so he should be coming today. I smiled to myself as I went behind the counter to grab the vase of blue roses when I heard the door open._

_6 people walked into the shop. There were 4 males 2 females. 3 out of 6 had oddly colored hair. There was a boy with crimson colored hair and golden eyes that I recognized as Karma, and a boy - who held a striking resemblance to a female, but I could tell he was a guy because of the way he dressed - that had beautiful sky blue hair._

_One of the girls had green hair and looked similar in stature to that of the blue haired boy. The other 3 had normal colored hair. The other girl looked to be mixed, maybe French. She had blonde hair and brown eyes. The other two were light brown and black haired respectively. They both had deep brown eyes._

_The 2 normal haired boys seemed to be quietly talking to each other and completely ignoring the other conversation. Well conversation wouldn't be the exact term I would use, more of a battle. The two girls and the blue haired male were busy mocking and yelling at Karma._

_"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ONLY HAVE SCHOOL UNIFORMS?!" The green haired girl shrieked. "I just don't see the need for other clothes" Karma said uncaringly. I snickered quietly to myself as the blonde foreigner responded. "She's right Karma-san. You can't just have school uniforms. You need other clothes too"_

_Karma seemed puzzled by this "but I am just fine with the uniforms. I even have a swim suit so it's not like I don't have the essentials." He said exasperated, at the he blue haired male decided to cut in "but what did you wear when we went on vacation on the island. You had some black pants, black under armor and a maroon button up. So don't you have other clothes?"_

_At that Karma blushed lightly. "Ah, I borrowed those from a friend. I knew yours wouldn't fit me, I'm just lucky he's only a size larger" he shrugged and made an attempt to walk farther in to the store. He saw me and smiled. "Hey Shiemi! I'd just like the usual. Oh I'm sorry for the behavior of my classmates"_

_He said kindly while smiling gently. "Ya is that all we are to you Karma-san!" The blonde yelled at him. "Um I think we're missing the point here" the brunet male said "Karma-san smiled at her and spoke to her nicely. Does Karma have a sweetheart he hasn't told us about?" He asked innocently._

_"KARMA-SAN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU HAD A GIRLFRIEND?!" The green haired girl shrieked. I wince as I began to look for a nice blue rose. I finally selected one and I walked out from behind the counter to grab something wrap the stem in. "She's not my girlfriend guys! Honestly I can't take you anywhere" he grumbled. Smiling lightly I placed the rose on the counter and called over "Karma-chan! Would that be all or are you going to pick up some cat nip too?"_

_I giggled lightly as I saw him blush. "So Karma, you have a cat eh?" the black haired male sneered. Karma glared half-heartedly at him. "For your information, they're strays" he grumbled then he turned back to me "yeah I'll take another bag of catnip and some holy water, thanks" I smiled and began to move around the store to grab the things that he needed. "Oh and Shiemi" he called after me "these are my friends, Isogai, Maehara, Nakamura, Nagisa and Kayano" he said while pointing to each of them._

_I gave a little wave and continued on my way. "Karma, why on earth do you need holy water for?!" Nagisa asked scandalized. Obviously they didn't know about Karma's interest with the paranormal. I grabbed the catnip and the holy water from their shelves and made my way back to the counter. "Ah he just has an interest in the other business this shop does" I said while smiling at Karma's friends. "Would you guys like to get anything? We sell just about anything that comes from the earth or is natural." I said casually to them._

_I doubted they would want anything, after all they had come in with Karma and they were arguing about clothes.  When none of them spoke up I moved to place the holy water, catnip and his blue rose in a bag when I remembered something. "Oh Karma-kun! I almost forgot, Mr. Otori asked for something to be made for you.“ I said while smiling lightly._

_He looked a bit shocked but he hid it well. "Wait as in the owner of the many popular and high quality hospitals and other medical companies?! Karma, how do you know someone like that?!" Maehara squealed shock. Isogai giggled softly at hearing Maehara squeal. Karma rolled his eyes and leaned against the counter. "Well if he asked for something to be made for me then I don't think it would be that bad. By any chance is it done?" he said thoughtfully._

_"Ano... Karma-kun, how do you know this Otori-san?" Nagisa said quietly. While Karma began to explain that he ended up helping him with something (after all it was no secret he was a prodigy so it really wasn't that far-fetched) and the youngest Otori took a shining to him, I went and got the bag from where I had placed it under the counter. Putting it up alongside his other bag I began to remove the contents of the bag to show him. "I believe that this will help with your apparent clothing situation. Otori-san consulted both me and some more formidable exorcists on the matter so it should be durable and functional for you"_

_Nakamura-san raised one of her perfect eyebrows - she seemed generally very well put together, probably concerned with her appearance yet still outgoing - in question at what I had pulled out of the bag. I pulled out a hooded sleeveless and formfitting zippered shirt made out of a durable material similar to leather but much more comfortable. There was a basic under armor tank top and a pair of black jeans which had been re-enforced with durable material weaved in with the denim. There was also a pair of black converse that had steel toes and heels._

_He looked generally surprised as he saw what I held out for him. "Wow, I'm sure this was custom made to my build right?" he asked in awe. "Yes, Mr. Otori had it paid for and got me all of the materials. Al I had to do was sew i together and get it... enhanced” I said while glancing nervously at the others in the room. His eyes were filled with understanding. I sighed in relief, he understood my hidden message. I had gotten it blessed by some priests and magically enhanced (don't ask, demonic connections of the Otori's) so that it would still fit him if her grew. But based off the height he was now, he was probably not going to grow much more. He might get bulkier, but I have a feeling he prefers the swimmers build._

_He grabbed the cloth from me and inspected the material. Apparently satisfied with it, he folded it up and helped me place it back into the bag. "Well thank you very much Shiemi" he said kindly "How much do I owe you?" he question while pulling a wallet out of his pocket. He then gave me the necessary amount and left the shop with his friends._

*Flash back end*

 

So that was how he ended up getting the outfit he now wore whenever he could. I had to say that it did indeed suit him. I had been worried that it left his arms exposed and I was glad that he had invested in some metal armbands for at least some protection but I still worried. Though I had to wonder, he must have bought those roses for Garry right? I mean why else would he get royal blue roses? Garry's rose had and was, blue and he had been in mourning. Though I had to admit it was rather creep that he met Garry when he was 9.

But at least now they were physically only 2 years apart. It was a bit weird that Rin was dating a demon when he was studying on how to be an exorcist, but hey, he'll do his thing and I'll do my thing. To each his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! This is also posted on my Wattpad account under the name KeyKiyoshi7443.


	20. The Doll Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds

Karma P.O.V

After walking for a couple more minutes down a long corridor, we finally made it to a large open room. From what I remembered it’s almost a perfect parallel to the place where Garry should be now. The walls were brown and there was an awful lot of doors. I was not looking forward to solving this room of puzzles. It was going to be a while. I stopped once every one else had walked into the room to assess the situation. Unfortunately for me, I was stuck with the insecure group without the real power. Mainly the pacifists.

This was going to be fun. “Ughhh there’s so many doors!” Shima groaned. He slumped and leaned dramatically on Konekomaru. “Will this nightmare ever end?” He complained. “Ano Shima-kun” Shiemi began “Ib-san knows what he’s doing. He can – will get us out of here. I’m sure of it!” she declared. I felt the corner of my mouth twitch upwards.

No matter how dire a situation becomes, or how hopeless everyone else seems, Shiemi never loses faith. She doesn’t even know me that well, but she has known me longer than Yukio. She knows what I was like after the first time, she’s even met some of the class E students. It wasn’t all that long ago either. In fact, that little incident was only 8 months ago.

But, I had changed somewhat from what I was then. I hid away my feelings even then too. Well, as long as we were in public. The students of class E, my friends, seemed to bring out my rue personality. I had found myself showing so much more emotion around them than ever before. They accepted me, and I found that is a rather rare thing.

I was very grateful when they officially joined my ‘family’ as well. I didn’t count my stupid abusive foster family as my actual family. No, I considered my gang my real family. The higher up members who knew me personally – most of the exorcists, the artists, the performers, the assassins and Kyoya – were my family. They cared about me, they looked after me and they made sure that I was ok.

Then when I grew closer to class E, they joined the group I considered my family. Being part of the Tricksters was simply an official initiation to the family. They were the ones I trusted with my life, my heart and my sanity. Only them. I could never have the familial relationship I have with Kyoya or Nagisa with Yukio. Heck, my relationship with Terasaka was better than with my own twin brother.

It’s rather sad, but he seems to think that he is the older brother. That since he has not shown any demonic traits and he is the professional exorcist (to be fair I am of Paladin status, but he doesn’t need to know that) that he can and has to look after me. Poor big brother who only found out about this world when his loving foster family was killed. The innocent little demon brat that needs to be controlled so that he doesn’t get himself killed.

I swear that boy doesn’t know anything. Even before the assassins training class E received, they were much more capable. And now with the training, we could easily take any exorcist and win. They wouldn’t stand a chance against us, even with their weapons. Yukio always underestimates my capabilities and now was the time for me to prove I knew more than I let on.

But I also had to be careful. I had to keep my cover of a simple happy go lucky boy with a sad past. They aren’t ready to know yet anything that I knew. This world was already too much for them. Finding out that a bunch of middle school students were trained until they are capable of taking down the government’s best team? That would mess them up. They still trust the higher ups too much. As a higher up I can say that is makes it easier, but trust should be earned. Not automatically given just because they are the higher ups. We’d been screwed over by the government when we were assassins way to many times already. There was no way I would trust those slimy politicians. It was a passive aggressive world that was built on fancy words.

I preferred the doing much better. I sighed as I looked over at my group. “Come on, we shouldn’t ever split up. Even though it would make things faster, we should always stay together. You can’t trust anything here” I said somberly. “We should work our way around the room.” I continued as I began to casually stroll around the room.

Completely at ease outwardly. I did this to make sure they felt they had someone to depend on. Someone who was unfazed by how terrifying the world was. It was a strong constant, that if I wasn’t scared, then they shouldn’t be either. It was meant to give them security. On the other hand, I was completely freaked out internally. This world seemed similar enough, but I can’t trust that it will stay that way.

Nothing like that could ever be this easy. Something bad would happen any time now, and I didn’t know when it would happen which was unsettling. It was like going into the hotel trying to find out who had poisoned half the class all over again. I knew I could have probably handled it alone, but having everyone else there made me nervous. I wasn’t able to pull out my hand gun and kill anyone.

Not to mention the fact that I had to look after everyone else too. And Karasuma was leading us so I couldn’t just up and disappear to solve the problem on my own. It was pretty similar here. There’s nothing for me to shoot or kill. It isn’t a clear cut easy solution. We can only continue on through this world and hope that we are able to make it out of here alive.

Walking farther into the room we made it to the far end of the room. There was an odd room inside of the large room so we decided that that door was as good as any to try. Inside was a small room with some little book shelves filled with dusty old books. Most were in heavy disrepair and some old torn out pages were lying on the ground.

There was one book that looked completely untouched though. There wasn’t even that much dust covering it. I gingerly picked it up and opened it. “Once upon a time, there was a little boy. The boy went with his parents to an art gallery” I winced as I read this. This hit a little too close to home if you know what I mean. “But all of a sudden, the boy realized that he was lost…” I continued on despite the uneasy feeling that was beginning to set in.

“He searched through the dim gallery, but found neither his parents nor the exit. Scared, helpless, lonely, hungry, and thirsty. He fell and hurt himself, pushing his body past its limit…” Oh boy did this throw me back on memory lane. It was horrible. I was only a small boy when we had gone to the art gallery. I had spent a couple hours just wandering around the gallery in a vain attempt to find anyone.

I didn’t find anything, not even any evidence that there had ever been people in the gallery. The lights had dimmed as soon as I had been clear of people, and when I went back to look for them, there was no one there. I must have walked around the gallery at least 20 times. You know that eerie feeling you have when you walk around a school after hours when there isn’t anyone in classrooms or the halls. When you feel completely alone despite being in a public place.  
And even though there was no one there, you still felt like someone was following you or watching you. It didn’t help that it was dark or that the eyes of the portraits seemed to follow you. I was only 9 and still believed in everything. I was still innocent to the different horrors that were out there. Well as innocent as an abused kid could be. I knew people were mean and that no one cares when you get hurt, but I still believed in Santa, and that you could trust adults to handle situations for you.

Ahh, how far I’ve come. I turn to the next page to find a drawing (no longer childish and surprisingly realistic) of a young boy collapsed in an art gallery hall. Last time this was the end of the story but it seemed that someone had added more pages. “But he got up and he continued moving. He didn’t stay long, and he met a friend. A lovely little girl who was just as lost as he was.” There was a little drawing of a blonde girl at the bottom of page.

“They became the best of friends but then the boy decided to leave. And he didn’t take the little girl with him. Alone and afraid the little girl sat in the art gallery.” I turned to the last page and I was shocked at what was written there. The words “he would pay for leaving her behind” had been carved into the paper so many times. It looked like someone had written over those words so many times. The words were written in black ink, but around the edges of the grooves were tinged slightly red.

Closing the book and leaving it on top of one of the shelves we moved on, deciding that that little room was better off left alone. No one wanted to have to address the issue of the story book so we let it be. Moving on, we began to explore the rest of the room sin hope that we could find a way out. One of the rooms was completely devoid of color and across a rather large gap was a key. It probably lead to the way out.

 

* * *

 

Bon P.O.V

We had finally collected 5 paint balls after finishing a bunch of unnecessary puzzles. Boy that was annoying. There was only one more paint ball left to find and then we could leave this section. I seriously hope that there isn’t much more after this. This place creeps me the hell out and I really don’t want to have to stay here any longer than I have too.

We were just making another pointless round of the room when I noticed something a little different laying on the floor near the room with the cold door. There was a little doll laying on the ground. One of the completely horrifying ones that looked like a childish toy. But something was very wrong with it. It looked odd.

It spoke with softly with a lilting raspy voice. “I picked up something good… I’m making it my treasure!” It giggled as it mocked us. It wheezed lightly when it suddenly went silent. Something was wrong with it though. One of its arms were torn off and the edge of its dress looked burnt. There was a whole in its stomach that had been sewn up, but obviously not by a skilled hand. There was also some dried reddish paint near the edges of the stitches.

It looked as if a child had decided to play doctor with their doll. Looking closer at its stomach I noticed something else. “Hey, isn’t its stomach a little bigger? It looks different than the other dolls, well despite the terrible patch up.” I asked. Garry kneeled down to look at the doll a bit closer. He reached forward and carefully pulled out the shitty stitches to reveal what was hidden inside the doll.  
A white ball of paint fell to the ground. It wasn’t pure white, it wasn’t perfectly white though, there was some dried red paint smeared on the side. After that it was mainly white. Garry carefully picked it up and it vanished, transporting itself to the room that held the paint balls. Only a fraction of a second after the ball of paint vanished the doll stood up as if nothing happened. As if there wasn’t a giant gaping hole in its stomach.

It giggled a high pitched childish giggle that was slightly insane. Then it ran to the door – wait since when had it been open – and disappeared inside the room. Garry stood up abruptly and walked swiftly over to the door. He touched the handle gingerly to test it. Giving a slight twist of his wrist, the door knob turned. “Well, go on then. We need to get the last paint ball and I’ll bet ya it’s in there”

Shura said confidently. While she seemed to have been slightly humbled, she still clearly had no idea when she was clearly over her head. She still probably believed that she should be leading this mission. Probably some stupid exorcist arrogance. Though I had to agree that I hated letting a demon take charge, I preferred him over Shura any day. She just rubbed me the wrong way.

Like that one teacher you really hated. She was always telling you that you were wrong and that you had to do things exactly how she said to do them. The absolute control freak that refused to admit they were wrong even when they knew they were. Shura was that but so much worse because she actually had some skill to back up her claims. She also had quite a collection of bad habits and was in no way qualified to be a teacher to anyone, let alone a class of complete newbies.

Now I resent being called a newbie, but all things considered, I had next to no experience. Sure my head is filled with facts and incantations, but I have never been in a dangerous situation other than the Blue Night. This entire experience was completely new, and I had t admit that no matter how much I may hate Rin, I could admit that he has bested me here.

I had no idea where he got it, but somehow he was also nailing all of his classes. He only learned of this world 2 months before the school year began, there’s no way he could have caught up this fast. It was all a bit suspicious, but he did come from the best class in Kunugikaoka Academy. He was even the top student, so I suppose that it is plausible.

But that’s beside the point. Garry seemed just as done with Shura’s blatant stupidity as everyone else in the group. “Well, if you’re all sure that you want to go into this room than by all means, let’s go. But I’m warning you, this room is dangerous. But unfortunately we do have to go in, and when we do, I expect you all to follow my orders. There’s no telling just what might have changed, but I do not have fond memories of this particular place.” He said calmly.

With a sober expression we all nodded and stepped into the room. Upon walking into the room I was quickly horrified. I took a step back in disbelief at the state of the room. There was probably a hundred dolls scattered around the room. They were all damaged in one way or another. Some were missing eyes, others were missing entire limbs. Some had been burned to the point where the fabric sort of melted all together.

They were all grinning t us in a twisted way. Their mouths were painted on, so they looked very Joker like in appearance. Some of the dolls were patched up too, though that was also a terrible job. The fabric was completely different than the original and actually looked to parts of a suits jacket. They were all a mess of fabric and stuffing.  
There was a giant painting hanging at the opposite side of the room. It was a dark mix of paints but you could still clearly see a figure. It looked to be a giant doll hanging from a noose. Its eyes were the same soulless black and its mouth was stitched in with wet red thread. Its head hung at a slight angle, and its feet didn’t touch the floor.

There was a red liquid dripping down its entire body. It started from the neck area and made its way down until it dripped from its feet. There was a pretty decent sized puddle already from under its feet. Everything else was very dark with a medium gray being the lightest shade other than the vibrant red. There was also an odd shape in the very back of the picture. Hidden in the shading was what looked to be the corpse of one of the missing people.

Though that picture was unsettling as it was, there was another detail that made it extra horrifying. Along the back wall of the painting there appeared to be deep gouges in the plaster. They were a pitch black and ranged in size. Pulling my eyes away from the painting I was able to see the frame. Around the edges of the painting and the frame there were deep claw like gouges in the wood and the wall. Turning to look over at Garry I saw that he had gone incredibly pale.

He was staring at the gouges in the wall oddly. “Garry, are you ok?” I asked softly. That seemed to shake him out of his daze. His eyes cleared and he looked over at me. He smiled a small reassuring smile and said “yeah, I’m fine.” Turning to walk further into the room he was interrupted by Shura. “Hey look! There’s the last ball of paint!” she cheered happily.

She quickly ran and picked up the paintball. “Woohoo! That’s all 7! Now we can leave right?” She asked excitedly. She turned towards us when suddenly the door swung shut behind us. Izumo and Yukio locked out of the room. Rushing back towards the door I began to pound at it. “Bon!” I heard Izumo shout. “Kamiki, the door’s locked! Can you open it?” I demanded from my side of the door. “It’s locked form our side too! There’s nothing we can do, we’re not strong enough to break down the door!” Yukio yelled.

Sighing in defeat I slumped down against the door. “How do we get out?” I asked Garry. He looked troubled but just when he opened his mouth to speak when I noticed something. There was a weird wet sticky substance on my arm. Looking down I jumped back with a small yelp. I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a message painted on the door.

Judging by how wet the paint was it wasn’t that long ago, but it was still a decent amount of time. Maybe half an hour? God, how hadn’t I noticed it? It was even in a bright yellow! “Let’s have another treasure hunt… Who? Who? Who has the key?” I read in a shaky voice. Turning to look at Shura and Garry in panic I felt my breathe hitch.

“What was that? What’s going on?” Yukio asked us. His voice rising slightly in panic at what he must have heard through the door. Ignoring him I stared at Garry silently asking what we were supposed to do. The room suddenly began to shake violently. “Fuck!” I curse when it finally stopped. Somehow the lights in the room had dimmed and gone a blue hew. I have no idea how considering there wasn’t technically a light source. Which was another weird thing.

This was the only room that hadn’t had any ceiling lights in it. It was still brightly lit but I had no idea where the light could have possibly come from. But that wasn’t what I needed to be thinking about right now. There was a strange gong lie sound beginning to ring through the room. “What’s that sound?! Bon! Garry what’s happening?” I heard Izumo shriek hysterically.

Looking up I saw the painting begin to move. The doll had begun to swing back and forth lightly. But it didn’t look like it was trying to move. It looked as if someone had carelessly brushed past it and touched it. Looking to the corner of the painting I was horrified to see that the corpse had moved. It was closer to us, just past the body of the doll.

Now that it was closer and in the brighter section of the painting, I could see that it was in fact the one high school girl. She held a rose stem devoid of all of its petals clutched tightly in her hand. She had matted brown hair that reached her shoulder and she was dressed in the basic school uniform. Her bangs covered her eyes, but there was an awful lot of blood spilt down the front of her uniform.

She was slumped but in a more upright position than before but she still hadn’t gotten up. “Quickly, search all of the dolls! We need to find the key before she leaves the painting!” Garry yelled as he began to rip apart the damaged dolls. Shura and I quickly began to follow his lead. Looking up every now and then from my task, I was able to see the progress that the girl made. It had only been a few seconds but already she had managed to sit completely upright.

I looked down as I finished searching a doll, I looked up again only to be greeted with the sight of her standing up. She was about a foot in front of the hanging doll. Frantically I continued the search when I suddenly felt as if someone was staring at me. Stopping my task for another moment, I looked up at the picture to see the girl staring at me. That would have been creepy enough as it is, but there was something horrible about her.

Her eyes were completely gouged out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes. If you don't understand something then simply ask and I will clear things up. I hope you enjoy reading and please review! 
> 
> Ok so I know that I said this was also on Wattpad, but we all know that Wattpad is trash. I kinda stopped updating that one after like chapter 16 so don't even bother checking that one out. If there is anyone that wants me to upload the chapters on Wattpad again just comment about it, but otherwise it won't be updated. I will leave it up though because I''m kinda lazy.


	21. Sketchbook Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds
> 
> Thank you to anyone who actually is reading this! It means a lot to me! I'm also sorry that updates are really slow.

Garry P.O.V

I frantically tore through the dolls in an effort to find the key. I vaguely remember what it was like last time, and what I did remember wasn’t in any way, shape or form good. The fear was paralyzing, and last time I didn’t make it. The doll had climbed out of the painting and I can’t remember what happened after exactly. All I know is that it was the most scared I’d ever been in my entire life. Nothing could have compared to that feeling.

Well until now that is. The past memories of the past conflicting with the real emotions of now. Being in the same situation but no longer alone. I don’t even know which one is worse. Being alone, I was able to break down, but there was no one to help me. For a moment I had given up back then, because I didn’t believe it would be any better if I did make it out.

But having others with me is also not good. I can’t afford to freak out because they’re already terrified. I also have to try because their safety is my responsibility. I have to save them because they have lives to get back to. They have families and people that will miss them if they’re gone. I can’t just let them become more casualties when I can do something about it.

Plus now I know that Karma is waiting for me. I continued my search when suddenly I felt the cool touch of metal on my fingertips. Sighing in relief I grabbed the key and made a mad dash towards the door where Bon was standing staring in horror at the painting. Crap, I hadn’t taken the time to actually look at the painting until now.

I’m pretty glad I hadn’t, I had to say that is was much worse than the one before. The doll that had haunted me for years after my encounter hung long dead. The true horror of our new situation was the second youngest victim.. The high school girl. She stood so close to the frame staring without eyes t Bon. I honestly couldn’t blame him for not being able to move because of fear.

His reaction was actually pretty tame considering what my reaction would have been. I remember way back when I had been in this world the first time with Karma or Ib as he was called back then. I screamed at every little thing. I had been quite the wimp. After dying though I found that I had been slightly desensitized to these things. I was grateful for that. It allowed me to keep a cool head during situations like this.

It would also be pretty sad if I was wimpier than the people from Karma’s class. That would be embarrassing. I had met them once and I had to say that I was thoroughly displeased with how these children had grown up. Oh yes, the task at hand. Girl is about to crawl out of the painting and I have a means to get out. I should probably use that.

“Come on I have the key!” I yelled over the strange chiming sound. Shura immediately dropped the doll she was searching and ran towards the door. I quickly unlocked it and pulled Bon out of the room. We collapsed against the door as we closed it behind us. Yukio and Izumo were staring down at us in concern.

Bon still looked incredibly shell shocked and it was certainly and odd emotion for him to express so openly. Usually he’s more the angry one, but it is very understandable what he is feeling right now. If they weren’t here I would probably break down by now. As it is I just take a deep breath and put my head between my legs in an attempt to calm down.  
“What happened in there? The door just suddenly closed and there was this ominous gong noise that kept happening!” Izumo said quickly. She looked pretty frantic which wasn’t that alarming considering how disturbed she had been throughout all of this. But her concern was a bit surprising. She didn’t seem like the person to care about anyone other than herself and Paku.

“We’re fine-“ I began when Bon began to mumble. “She just stared at me. She wouldn’t stop and she didn’t have any eyes. Is that what’s eventually going to happen to us?” he mumbled. He was beginning to have a panic attack and if I wanted to avoid a full scale attack myself I would need to stop him. Quickly, I kneeled in front of him and grabbed his head with both hands.

“Now listen here” I said quietly “we’re not going to end up like her, ok? We’re going to be just fine, Ib and I will get you and the others out of here. I promise.” He looked up at me, and his eyes were so expressive. In them I saw a lost little boy who had just seen his parents being killed. I saw a boy who didn’t know what to do because for the first time in forever, he was scared. He had been so strong for so long that he didn’t know how to not be.

“Just breathe, it will all be fine. We’ll be out of here soon, I promise.” This seemed to calm him down and eventually his breath evened out. The cloud of fear slipped from his eyes and his face became guarded and angry once more. He gave me a brief nod of thanks before he stood up. “It doesn’t matter what we did, all that matters is that we got the last paintball, so we can leave now.” He said gruffly as he brushed past all of us.

I sighed, we all walked to the last door we hadn’t entered yet. Checking to see if it was locked, I was happy to see that it wasn’t in fact locked. We all filed into the room and closed it behind us. It was a small room with a staircase that lead to who knows where and an odd painting. Though you couldn’t really see much of the painting in the first place because someone had spray painted all over it.

“Do you know if the stairs will take us back to the other group?” Yukio asked me quietly from where he stood at the back of the group with Shura. I looked up to where the stairs disappeared. “I don’t know, but let’s hope that it does.” I began to walk up the stairs. Bon seemed to shrug before following me, calling over his shoulder “Well do you have a better plan? No? Well then, we’re taking the stairs.”

 

* * *

 

 

Rin P.O.V

We had been pointlessly searching around the rooms for a while now, when suddenly we heard a strange sound coming from the room devoid of color. We exchanged looks before going to check on the room. They all subconsciously let me take the lead while Shima stayed at the back.

I slowly opened the door expecting an attack of some sort and I was not wrong. It was just a different type of attack than what you’d think. I was just momentarily blinded by the shear brightness of the rainbow, though the white was a bit tainted with something. I wonder what it was.

After my eyes had become adjusted to the brightness of the now rainbow room I was able to see that a bridge had been made out of colored clay. I carefully walked further into the room and tested the strength of the bridge. I was happy to see that it seemed sturdy enough. Way sturdier than some of the things I had to rely on during missions.  
Quickly walking across it and jumping halfway anyway – there was no way I wanted to risk having it collapse on me hallway through, I just needed an extra meter to be able to make the jump – I grabbed the key and made my way back, once again taking the leap. I left the room and held up the key triumphantly.

“This means that Garry and the others solved all of their puzzles. We should be reunited with them soon!” I said cheerfully. I could see the smiles of relief on my group’s faces. We hadn’t had that many puzzles ourselves, let alone any that were really dangerous. If I remember correctly, Garry’s group would have had a much harder time.

Garry had failed in the doll room and I had had to go and get him. It was not something one could easily forget. He had been locked in a trance, and the only way I had been able to break him out of it was to slap him. If the group that Garry was traveling with had gotten separated during the doll room, and if they failed, it would not have been a pretty sight. I can only pray that they all had made it out ok.

I don’t want to be responsible for them having to lose someone. God knows how hard that is to get over. And this is their first mission to boot. We made our way to the room that had been locked and I was about to unlock the door when I heard people approaching. “Shima! Stand guard” I barked before drawing my sword and standing in a defensive position keeping everyone else between me, Shima and the door.

A couple of seconds later, Garry and the others came out of one of the rooms. I sighed in relief it looked like they’d all made it, but I couldn’t quite relax yet. Pointing my sword at them I said sharply “What is Garry?” They seemed a bit puzzled before it dawned on them. In almost perfect sync they answered “Your demon boyfriend” some of them said it with more contempt than others but I was satisfied.

Looking them over to make sure they hadn’t been injured too badly I was glad to see that they were ok. They had some dried red patches on their knees and hands but it didn’t look like it came from them. Bon looked a little shaken, but he put up a good front so it couldn’t have been that bad. Shura and Yukio looked a little shocked. They were both staring at my sword.

Wait, my sword. Dammit, it was unsheathed. They both knew that I had demonic flames and that the scabbard of the sword was the only keeping the flames at bay. Well that’s what they thought at least. I quickly sheathed the sword and winked at them. I nodded to Shima and he lowered his weapon as well.

As soon as all weapons had been put away the two groups meshed together once again. Izumo quickly ran to Paku and two hugged each other tightly. Yukio and Shiemi did the same though it was considerably more awkward. I walked up to Garry taking a closer look. He smiled down at me before kissing my forehead. “It is fine, no one got hurt. Though Bon and Shura might be a bit freaked out around my blue dolls in the future.” He said quietly so no one else could hear.

I nodded slightly before turning back to the group of people. “Ok, through that door is the next section of the world. We shouldn’t be too far from the exit now.” Turning I unlocked the door and we went through. Through the door was a passage that lead to a stairway. It was narrow and we would have to go in single file which I absolutely hated.

It was a long stairway, and the floor soon faded from brown to a strange pink. As we continued to go down, the walls began to disappear and make way, for what looked like a night sky. There were stars all around us, and we even had to dodge a couple of the ‘shooting stars’.

We continued descending for another couple of minutes before we finally reached the base of the stairs. Only to come an area that was somehow creepier than anything we’d seen before. The pathway was no longer the perfect construction we were used to. Instead it was replaced with what looked like crayon scribbles.

Garry and I continued to walk confidently on the new path while the other seemed a little hesitant. “Welcome to the sketchbook” I said sadly. “I hated this place the first time too. It was all so childish that is was very creepy for no other reason than a child drew this.” I said to Garry. He nodded “It never sat well with me, especially after Mary’s betrayal.” He responded. We turned the corner and continued walking.

There was more childish drawings on the walls as we continued forward and even a sign that pointed towards the “sketchbook”. We continued forward solving puzzle after puzzle until we entered one of the crayon houses. We were just about finished examining the room when I heard a weird dragging sound. As if someone was dragging a body across the floor.

“Quick behind the wall” I ordered. They moved forward without hesitation. Once we were safely behind the wall I peeked around the side. Making sure that no one would be able to see me. The door creaked open and I was greeted with a horrifying image. There was about 3 walking/crawling corpses.

There was a business man who didn’t have his lower body and was crawling around the floor. There were two young girls, probably about 12 years old, clutching onto each other’s arms. They were soaked in blood with gashes across their throats.

The walked in to the room and looked around for a minute before leaving. I let out a soft breath as soon as the door closed. “Don’t tell me… those… whatever they were… were the victims” Yukio muttered. I sighed in exasperation “we’ll just have to be a bit more careful when we wonder around from now on.” I respond.

Eventually we found the gallery key amongst the dead tulips and we went into the gallery. We all filed in and I closed the door behind us. Looking up at the wall I was shocked to see that the original crayon drawings of Garry and me. Mine was the same as when I was 9. The only difference was that now there was also a crayon drawing of how I look now standing behind the little me also holding the same rose. Garry’s had the eyes crossed out of it, but the rose remained intact.

But we were no longer the only ones on that specific wall. There were pictures of all the others who had been kidnapped. They also had their eyes crossed out, but their flower petals were all over the ground. The figures of the cram class still had their eyes left and their petals still attached. “This is a completely different atmosphere than before” Shima said after staring at his crayon portrait for a couple minutes.

Paku reached forward to trace the face of my younger self. “This is more unsettling than the art gallery.” She agreed. We continued to walk through the childish gallery and we happened upon the picture of Mary. It was different though. She sat kneeling, reaching out to the observer. There was blue flames surrounding her and blood was running down her hands. It looked as if she had been trying to claw her way out of the drawing.

She was crying and pleading as the flames burned her. I looked on in absolute apathy. There was no way I would ever be able to feel sorry for her. She deserved everything she got. She had killed Garry, and it was by pure miracle that Garry had become a demon. Shiemi gasped at the horror of the crayon picture. This one was noticeably better than the older ones.

It had a more developed talent, but there was only so much one could do using crayons. It was clearly Mary’s work, and I couldn’t help but feel disgusted by it. She was victimizing herself. She’s killed countless people and she goes all psychopath on a freaking 9 year old because they didn’t want to stay with her.

In the center of the room was what looked to be a box made out of grey wooden planks, it was covered in old rusted chains that had broken links around the edge of the lid. Someone had clearly opened it before, but long ago. The planks of wood were damaged and rotting away. On some of the sharp broken chain links, there was what looked to be dried blood in the edges.

Though with this world, it was hard to tell if something was paint or blood. I wonder if there is even a difference now. Shura ever the curious idiot, decided that she would open this box. Even though right above it, was a label that read “Pandora’s box” – she truly is brilliant.

She seemed to have quieted down in her open refusal to follow our lead since the group was separated though. I had just recently found out what had happened to Garry when we had been separated. I had to say that it was by far worse than what I went through. Mary had liked me, she wanted me to like the world as well.

Garry hadn’t mattered to her then. It had only been important that he wouldn’t’ affect my decision to stay or not. But now, she this world was far more twisted than it had ever been before. So many innocent lives had been claimed by the monster that lurked in the depths.

Shura opened the box and out flew symbols. They were different from the ones that I had seen the first time. They resembled the ancient runes that we were studying. It was the language of old that the demons used to use before they went more modern.

It was disheartening to see the symbols of each one of the demon kings. I had studied them during my training, and the fact that their symbols were here proved that there was a demonic influence on this world. I would have to have some words with Mephisto though. His symbol shouldn’t be there, he had chosen to fight with the exorcists in the never ending battle against Satan.

I growled under my breath and resisted the urge to scream at Shura and took a deep breath. Yelling at her wouldn’t help our situation. What’s done is done, and there wasn’t anything that I could do to change it, and as far as I know, there wasn’t another way to get to the next stage of the maze like world.

I dragged a hand over my face in defeat. There wouldn’t be anything I could do to stop Shura being stupid. She would just have to learn that orders are given for a reason, and that being highest ranked doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be the one to give the orders. I just hope that her arrogance won’t cost us someone.

“Well done Shura!” Shima growled angrily “you just released Pandora’s box on us!” he nearly yelled. He was quickly silenced by a sharp look from Yukio though. It was rather amusing how easily my wimpy brother was able to gain the respect of this group of students. I suppose it might just be the fact that he’s a teacher, but clearly they shared none of that respect with Shura.

I sighed “it is fine guys, I’m pretty sure it’s just another puzzle for us to solve. When I was here 6 years ago, I had done the same thing” I said tiredly. “We just need to get a move on” I continued. I began to motion for the others to move forward and to leave through the other door, when I noticed that Paku had moved towards the box instead of towards the door.

I motioned for Garry to take the others and wait outside of the gallery for us. Izumo seemed reluctant to leave Paku’s side, but she left without voicing her complaints. Paku then reached down into the box and delicately removed a small mirror. She turned to begin to speak but then the mirror seemed to slip from her hand and fall to the floor.

It didn’t shatter luckily, but a long crack went through the surface of the mirror. I quickly picked up the mirror and placed it in my pocket before she could touch it again. I was in no way superstitious, but breaking a mirror was never good. She looked at me fearfully as she realized what had just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes.
> 
> If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below!


	22. Sketchbook Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything other than the plot to this story and the changes I have made to the respective worlds
> 
> Thank you to anyone who actually is reading this! It means a lot to me! I'm also sorry that updates are really slow.

Rin P.O.V

“I-Ib” she murmured. Paku had a terrified look on her face, and I was suddenly grateful that I had hidden the mirror from her. I walked forward slowly and carefully pulled her into a hug. If anyone in this group needed it, it was her. “Hey, it’s ok. We just need to be a bit more careful from now on ok.” I say quietly. She nods slightly before pulling away.

“O-ok Ib-san. W-we should go back to the o-others now” she said, making an attempt to be confident, but the poor dear couldn’t help but stutter. I sent her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. We both made our way out of the gallery and joined the other group. Izumo immediately went to Paku and began to hover and ask her questions.

I cut her off with a look and then we were walking. I stayed up front with Garry, where I leaned close to him. “She broke the mirror” I breathed out. Too quiet for anyone without demonic hearing to be able to understand. He nodded, almost imperceptible. We soon made it to a door in the wall that was covered in a sheet of glass.

If we were alone, I would have just melted it with my fire, but we were surrounded by exorcists, and they knew what the flames of Satan looked like. It looks like I’d have t use the mirror after all. A couple feet away from the ice covered door was a patch of sunlight. It was rather odd that there was sun there in the first place, but you could see the childishly drawn sun hanging in the inky blackness.

Standing in the small sunbeam, it felt surprisingly warm. I smiled softly, I couldn’t wait to be out of here and see the sun again. But my happiness was short lived. I heard some impatient shuffling behind me and I quickly dug around my pockets until I found the small cracked mirror.

I placed it on the ground and fiddled around with it until it reflected the light onto the frozen door. It was harder than I remembered, but that was probably due to the fact that the mirror had several fractures in it. It affected the way the light reflected. But once the light of the crayon sun hit the frozen door, the ice started to melt away.

In a matter of seconds the door was completely thawed. The speed at which the door melted made me a bit nervous. That couldn’t be good for me. As soon as the door had been completely thawed out – there wasn’t even a puddle of water left behind, it seemed to simply evaporate – we moved towards the door. The others seemed a bit hesitant, but I didn’t want to wait out in the open too long, lest we be caught by the dead gallery guests.

I held open the door and everyone filed into the room. I sent one last glance around the surrounding area, before I entered the room myself. I carefully shut the door behind me and turned around. I had to suppress a groan as I saw what the room contained. There was a series of buttons on the floor and a weird spiral with symbols. Great another god dammed puzzle for us to solve.

I don’t remember them being this annoying, but we had to power through them. After a lot of fumbling and many stupid mistakes on Bon’s part, we finally solved the stupid puzzle. Looking back on all of these things now, I couldn’t help that these were all such childish puzzles. It hasn’t even changed much in the last 6 years either. I wonder who took over this world. I mean, I burned Mary’s painting, but all the signs lead to the fact that she was back.

I hoped my observations were wrong.

Once we had completed the puzzle, a strange plastic key appeared on the floor. It looked as if someone had melted a bunch of different colored plastics into the shape of a key. It was frankly a bit appalling, but I knew that this key was useful. There was many locked doors in this world, and we had to make it through all of them to be able to leave.

I scooped up the key and motioned for the others to follow me, we would be leaving this room now. Upon leaving the room I was surprised to see the liveliness of the crayon world. During our struggle with the puzzle it seems that the world had grown. But instead of the enchanting colors that I remember, we were greeted with a less than pleasing sight.

Instead of colorful flowers and green vines, it seemed as if the world had been drained of all color. Everything that had once been colored like a child’s drawing was now simply shades of gray. Instead of the simple blunt lines that came from crayon drawing, everything seemed to be sharp and in focus. The plants were more like an overgrown jungle than a simple garden.

Everything was in focus, and the only color of this world was red. It was everywhere, dripping off vines and leaves, even splattered on the ground and up against trees. The ground they walked on was an eerie color of red bricks. It wasn’t splattered like all the other red things in the world. It was solid, as if someone had bothered to paint the entire pathway, not missing a single spot.

I grimaced, this was not something I wanted to deal with, there had still been the slight hope that maybe some of the gallery guests had survived, but there was no way any of them were alive if the amount of blood was anything to go by. Multiple people would have had to bleed out to be able to get this much _paint_. I kept on walking, ignoring the gasps of horror from behind me.

I had hoped that they wouldn’t make the connection between the red color and the paint splattered around the world, but it seems that had been too much wistful thinking. I closed my eyes as we forged on, trying to ignore the sounds of disgust from behind me. Outwardly I seemed unaffected, but truly I was disgusted. I may be bloodthirsty, but everything about this world disgusts me.

We walked into the last room that we hadn’t unlocked yet, and we were greeted with an oddly white room. This room hadn’t fallen prey to the drain of color. There were pink lines drawn on the wall, and a blue well in the back of the room. There was a plate on the side of the baby blue cylinder. It read ‘the Toy Box’. I suppressed another groan at the sight of the box.

There wouldn’t be a good way to bring this up. There was no other way for them to go, but with all the crap that they’ve seen lately, I don’t think they’d be too keen on jumping into a well. I’m pretty sure they’ve seen the Ring, and I know for a fact that Shima was screwed up for weeks after that despite it being completely faked.

They had way worse things to be afraid of. But still, diving down a well to an unknown location in this insane world. That just sounded stupid. “Guys, we’re gonna have to jump down the well” I said after a couple minutes of silence. As expected I was met with many incredulous looks. “You can’t be serious!” Bon yelled. Shura looked ready to blow her top. “How can jumping _down a well_ aid us in any way in, I don’t know, _escaping_?!?!” She practically shrieked.

I shushed her and put a finger to my lips. “We can’t be screaming willy nilly right now!” I hissed sharply. “In case you’ve forgotten, we’re currently _being hunted down by dead creatures_ ” The others looked embarrassed as they realized that I was right. I shot a glance down the well and I was greeted with a pitch black hole. Lovely, we would be going in blind.

I had hoped that the shrieking hadn’t drawn any attention to our whereabouts, but it seemed luck was once again not on our side. Only a few seconds after we’d gone completely silent, there was a scrapping sound from the other side of the door. We all froze. The sound wasn’t yet someone who was trying to get in, but like someone was dragging something heavy across the floor.

There was also faint footsteps, they couldn’t be that close, at least not as close as the dragging noise. But then the footsteps increased in both speed and number. The dragging noises got louder as well, and then there was multiple. I held my breath as we waited to see if they noticed us or not. There was a moment when everything was silent as the group passed.

The footsteps began to get fainter, and I was just about to let out a breath in relief, when suddenly the steps stopped. There was a beat of silence as everyone held their breath and prayed to whatever deity was listening, that whatever the hell was outside of the room would not notice them. But then their hopes were dashed as the footsteps and the god awful dragging sounds resumed. But they didn’t fade, they grew louder.

I suppressed a groan as I realized that they were going to be walking towards us. I turned to face the group of people that were behind me. “We need to go, _now_ ” I hissed at them “It’s either we jump down the well or get attacked by monsters!” Shura scoffed quietly. “We can totally fight them off!” she argued. I resisted the urge to facepalm.

“You could probably survive the encounter, but they are an unknown and are you really willing to risk them?” I said while jerking my thumb to point in the direction of the others. Shiemi, Konekomaru, and Paku stood silently next to their protectors. As the weaker members of the group, they tended to stick around Yukio, Izumo, and Shima respectively.

Their shoulders were hunched and they didn’t make eye contact with anyone. Instead choosing to stare at the floor. Shura seemed unsure as to what she wanted to do, and I began to get nervous. But before either of us could say anything else the door suddenly burst open. For a second there was nothing standing in the doorway.

Well at least not at eye level. Shooting a look downward confirmed his suspicions, there was indeed someone there. How they knocked the door open – especially with such force, like damn – he’ll never know. He may be smart, especially considering it is Japan, but his mind was a little occupied.

Only a little bit. I mean, it’s just his life and the lives of a bunch of teenagers on the line. No biggie.

He had just flicked his eyes downward for a fraction of a second, it shouldn’t have been enough time for someone to move. But when his gaze rose again, there were figures standing in the doorway. The creature that had been on the floor was dragging itself forward, like the ladies in the paintings did. The other figures seemed content to stay hidden in the shadows.

You could just barely make them out, but that wasn’t exactly what I was worried about at the moment. The _thing_ that had busted open the door was getting closer. The creature got closer and closer, until it was visible. The others flinched behind me, and I had to admit, it was not a pretty sight. He was correct, the creature was crawling on the ground, pulling its weight with its arms.

After the waist, there was nothing. Just jagged tears in the skin, and useless mounds of flesh left behind. It was soaked in red, and it left a trail of red behind. It looked like it had once been a male student. Though there wasn’t much left that could be used to identify him.

His- _its_ clothes that were left were incredibly bloody, barely recognizable. His skin was pale, grotesque and rotting. Its fingers were bloody – a clear sign that it had been dragging itself around for a while. All in all, it was a pretty horrifying sight. It definitely wasn’t friendly.

I turned sharply towards Yukio, because ultimately, it was his decision on what they did. He was the teacher in charge after all. Yeah, I know that technically speaking it’s me that’s calling all the shots, but Yukio had better luck with convincing both the other students and Shura to do things.

He’d taken a pretty backseat position on this mission so far, seemingly content to allow me to get them out of here, but now he’s going to have to step up. “Yukio, we need to move now” I said sharply as both Garry and I moved towards the well.

The creature had deemed my movement the signal to continue to approach us, and they were slowly surrounding us. Leaving very few options. Sure we could always try and fight them off, we’d probably succeed too. But there would be an awful lot of injuries in the encounter, as there was just too many people that couldn’t exactly defend themselves.

I also had a feeling that these _things_ wouldn’t stay dead. It just seemed to be a running theme in my life at the moment. Nothing seemed to stay dead, and while I’m glad that Garry is alive, I don’t need to deal with the stress of all of Guertena’s World still being here.

I had enough things to stress about, this was completely unnecessary. I cringed inwardly, thinking about all the work I’ll have to do concerning my gang. Kyoya was going to kill me. No, I shouldn’t be thinking of that right now. I need to focus, who knows what could face us next. “Look, it’s now or never, I’m jumping, so if you stay, you’re going to end u on your own” I told them.

I know it’s a bit harsh, but they need the reality check. They can choose to stay, but it definitely wouldn’t be in their favor. It was highly unlikely that they would survive. It was really in their best interest to just jump down the well. Even if we ended up dying from the fall, personally I’d much rather die from the impact than from being torn apart.

In reality there really wasn’t a choice. If they were smart, then they’d follow me. It was highly unlikely they’d find a way out if they stayed either. Especially without my help. They have little to no knowledge on anything about Guertena. And sure a 9 year old made it through this world, but I was a certified genius.

They wouldn’t last long. With one last look shot towards the others, imploring them to listen to me and their common sense, before I through one of my feet over the edge of the well. Garry followed suit. And with one big breath we jumped in. It was like falling into complete darkness. It was actually almost soft in a way.

The inky blackness surrounded them completely. I reached out blindly, and I was grateful to have Garry take my hand. I didn’t like being unaware. It messed with my head, made me think that there were things here that weren’t actually there at all.

In this complete and total darkness. It played up to my fears. You literally couldn’t see anything other than yourself. It was like there simply _was_ nothing else there. I looked over to where Garry was, and I was glad I could see him. There was this glowing haze surrounding us, but other than that there was nothing.

At this point, I wasn’t even sure if anything was real. It was all so confusing. I hadn’t been awake the first time through, we were pushed and then there had been nothing. I woke later, but I never knew what it was like to fall into the Toy Box. That’s one of the things that made me think that this might just be a dream. I had nothing to compare it to.

“When do you think we’ll reach the bottom?” I asked. I couldn’t tell if I was yelling, whispering, or just talking normally. It was like talking in your mind. You know that little voice that is your thoughts. You can hear everything that it’s saying, but when you try and change the volume, you find that you can’t.

No matter what, yelling is the same volume as whispering. It’s unnerving. Go on try it right now, you know you want to. Just to see if I’m right of course. Some of you have already done this before, and you can agree that it’s simply weird. And you can’t quite state why.

But that’s beside the point. Garry looked at me, and I wondered if he heard me at all. I couldn’t quite hear myself. It was like I was underwater. “I don’t know, I can’t remember what happened the first time.” He said. Oddly enough, I could hear his voice perfectly. I didn’t think about it, it made my head hurt.

Instead, I chose to look around. It couldn’t all be black right? There’s no way there was just _nothing_ there. That shouldn’t be possible. Unfortunately, looking around and down below there was simply nothing. Disappointed I looked upward to see if the others had followed. If they were smart they did. Luckily, this time I was not disappointed in the slightest this time.

Looking up, I was greeted with the sight of all the others falling with us. They were at different heights, so it was pretty easy to pinpoint who had trusted me and jumped first. Yukio, Shiemi, Shima, and Paku were all falling only a couple feet above us. Though they were gaining on us for some reason. It was odd, it was as if we were falling at different speeds.

But that shouldn’t be possible. Above them was Bon, Konekomaru, and Izumo. It seems that they jumped shortly after the first group. They’d likely jumped because the others did. Follow by example. They were the people who seemed like they’d be more reluctant to jump. I can’t exactly blame them though. In fact I encourage them to question.

I just wish that they did it silently and followed orders when it is a life or death situation. It’s good for them to be suspicious. It would be less likely for them to be taken advantage of in the future. They were only a foot away from the first group now. Their decent joining the speed at which the others were falling.

I looked up farther trying to see if Shura had jumped. If she hadn’t then there’d be a lot of explaining to do. It wasn’t like I was wishing she didn’t follow us or anything. I’m just saying that it’d be a bit easier to make sure everyone was alive if she stopped questioning everything. Some questioning was good, but the amount that she questioned my orders just pissed me off.

I squinted, there was something falling. It was really far away, but I could just make out long blonde and red hair. I sighed in relief. I didn’t want to lose anyone else to this world. Only a couple minutes later the others had managed to catch up with us. I tugged on Garry’s hand, making him look over at me.

“Hey!” I yelled, well I think I yelled. I turned to look over at the others (other than Shura) “link hands, we shouldn’t get separated!” I told them. The nodded and reached out to join hands. Some didn’t look too happy about the situation, but if we didn’t then we could end up losing someone. We were about to close the circle, Paku was the last one left to join hands.

She was reaching out for both my hand and Izumo’s. I smiled encouragingly at her. Willing her to stretch that last few inches to get to our fingers. But then something went wrong. Just as she was about to reach us – I could just touch her finger tips – there was a strange gust of wind. So far, there hadn’t been any air, we were just falling.

But out of nowhere, this wind came and blew her away. My eyes widened as I stared in shock and horror. Her eyes were wide with fear as she was flung away from us. It was like it was in slow motion. There was nothing I could do to stop it, all I could do was watch. All I could do was scream.

“PAKU”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic so please don't expect to much. Each chapter will be at least 3300 words long and updates might be a bit slow so sorry! Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. If there is any songs that are included in this story I shall put the URL in the beginning notes.
> 
> If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below!


	23. The Toy Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to update... but unfortunately it will probably take the same amount of time to update again.

Rin P.O.V

One minute we were falling through the air and Paku was being torn away from us, and then everything went black. I don’t know how long we were unconscious, but the when I woke up, we were no longer falling. I groaned and sat up. Since when had I been lying down?

I shook my head in a vain attempt to shake away the slight dizziness I was feeling. I needed to make sure that everyone was ok. I also needed to find out where we were. I had a bad feeling about this place. This wasn’t going to end well. I had really bad memories about this stage of Guertena’s World. Taking a look around, I realized that it looked even worse than the first time.

The first time it just looked like a very messy child’s room, complete with drawing on _everything_. Now it looked like a horror movie setting. The toys were littered across the ground, disheveled, broken, an abandoned. But that wasn’t the worst thing. It must be a running theme with this new world, but everything was in the process of being burned. Some of the fires had gone out hallway through, leaving whatever it was burning half melted.

Others were still smoldering, as if the fire had just been put out minutes before. It was odd, and unsettling. And then there were the toys and objects that were still on fire, burning a bright blue. It was horrifying to see the plastic of a doll’s face slowly melt away revealing a bare metal skeleton. Who even made dolls like that?

I shook my head, I needed to find my classmates. Knowing Shiemi, she’d be freaking out by now. In the original setting she might have been fine, but in this nightmare horror movie state it was anyone’s game. Then I remembered, Paku! She’d been separated. I took a frantic look around cataloging who was around me.

Garry lay right next to me, still unconscious. Yukio and Shiemi were a couple feet away, and a couple feet away from them lay Konekomaru, Bon and Shima. Izumo was on my left. I sighed in relief, at least they had all made it together. It’d be a disaster if we were separated yet again. One person was somewhat less of a problem.

I’m not saying that losing anyone isn’t horrible - and we should be getting up as soon as possible to go search for her – but it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. I turned to Garry and began to shake him, trying to wake him up. I would need his help in waking up the others.

We needed to get moving. If we were going to both escape and find Paku than time was precious and we couldn’t afford to waste it. Garry groaned and woke up after a couple shakes. “IB” he said sharply, as if waking up from a nightmare.

“Shhh!” I said, shushing him, “we need to wake up the others. Paku got separated and we need to move before… _things_ find us” I whispered harshly. He nodded and moved to wake up the trio. I went and shook Yukio. He woke up a lot faster than Garry, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit proud of his reflexes.

For a relatively normal person he had pretty decent post-sleep reflexes. He lurched up and pulled out his gun pointing it at my face. I smiled softly at him, at least he was smart enough to pull out a weapon. Though to be honest I’m more of a shoot-first-ask-questions-later type of guy. But hey, he didn’t shoot me in the face so that’s great.

It’d be a pity to find out how fast my healing works by being shot in the face. And it would probably affect Yukio psychologically if he shot his twin brother in the face. “We need to move. Paku got separated and we’re being followed” I told him quietly.

I wasn’t certain if there was actually something following us at the moment, but it would make them move faster if they thought they were being chased. We couldn’t afford to be stalled any more than we already were. We were almost there. So close to getting out. All we have to do is make it out of this and we’ll be home free.

The only major thing in our way is the fact that we lost Paku. I didn’t want to leave without her, but I have absolutely no idea where we would even begin to look. Yukio nodded, but then his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Wait, the monsters followed us down the toy box?” he asked as he put his gun away.

“And Paku’s missing?!” he asked in a slightly panicked tone. I nodded, lips pressed together in a grim expression. “Rule number 5 of surviving; always assume you’re being followed” I said as I moved to go wake up Izumo. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight or sound when she remembered that Paku got separated from us. She’d be a wreck and it would hinder us. “We need to find her” I concluded. There would be no leaving a man behind.

Kanzaki once made me watch this one anime. It had a great quote that I actually believe in. _Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum._ Personally I’m not one to follow the system. I’m more the rebelling type, but the second part holds true. If you can’t be trusted to look after your comrades then you shouldn’t be put on a team or in a class in the first place.

When you’re put on a team, you’re expected to look after each other, to protect each other. Because as a team you are no longer individuals. The mission is always important. But sometimes it’s not worth losing lives. You must always protect what you have, or someday someone might take it away from you.

Not long after my conversation with Yukio everyone was awake and anxious to get moving. “Ok, listen up” I began, “we need to get a move on. Priority is to find Paku and then escape. We’re not leaving without her.” I saw Izumo’s shoulders sag in relief. Poor girl, she really cares about Paku. I just hope she doesn’t get too emotional and shut down on us. It’d be a real problem.

“Now we’re being followed, so we all need to be real quiet. I know we’ve been working on stealth in the past few classes. So we need to use all of those skills now ok? We’re in uncharted territory and we have lost someone. We don’t know what’ll be around the next corner. It could be anything. It could be Paku, or it could be a mon- demon waiting to kill you. Be vigilant” I said finishing off my impromptu speech.

They nodded in understanding, and then we were off, creeping down the halls as quietly as possible. They crept down impossibly dark hallways that were only illuminated by chalk-like outlines on the walls. They were drawn haphazardly and very rough in appearance, almost like a child just took a piece of chalk to the walls.

The glowing white was a heavy contrast to the pitch black nothingness of the rest of the world. It was so dark it almost appeared as if there was nothing there at all. Though, I didn’t want to risk touching it to check if there was actually a wall, for fear of there being some hidden death trap. You could never know with this world.

As we continued down the hallways we reached a staircase. It looks almost endless, but we had nowhere else to go. What were we supposed to do? As we walked up the stairs I began to notice something. Leaning a little closer to Garry I whispered softly, “Is it just me, or does the chalk markings look a little… stained?”

You could never really know what was real and what was just an illusion because most of the illusions were real. But the chalk was beginning to change colors, from white to red. The change wasn’t smooth like a gradient, it was splotchy like someone had thrown paint at a wall and then smeared it with their hands.

Of course it wasn’t all that much at first, but the concentration of red began to get darker and denser as we continued upwards. The weird thing about it was the fact that all the other strange luminous objects scribbled on the walls remained completely unaffected by the red stains. This lead me to believe that it was an illusion, but I could never ever be 100% sure.

We arrived at the top of the stairs only to reach a small room drawn in a dark pink chalk. The crude lines were a bit neater, but overall still child-like. I cringed at the sight of the green and yellow vines that completely covered the door. Originally they had been bright and happy despite the circumstances, because they were after all, a child’s drawing.

But now they appeared to be dead or dying. Brittle and stiff and all sharp edges with throne everywhere. The lines were more defined and in some areas it looked to have been done with a pencil rather than crayons. Someone had remade this. Someone had built upon the remains of the old one and attempted to make it stronger.

You could still see the burned edges of some of the vines. We all piled into the room and I internally cringed yet again. The room was really small now that it was filled to the brim with teen bodies and not just a single teen and a child.

I reached forward and gently touched the vines that blocked the door, but ended up pulling my hand back in pain. I had expected it to feel like a dead plant – which it was considering the amount of lifeless almost brown yellow roses that littered the ground after falling from their branches – but instead it felt like touching a bunch of razor blades.

I hissed in pain as I examined my hand. Damn, that single gentle touch had done quite a number on my hand. There was slices everywhere, and though they were thin, they were bleeding quite profusely. Nothing bad, I just might require a couple stitches here and there. I hadn’t meant to put a lot of pressure on my hand when I did that, but it felt almost as if the damned vines moved towards my hand.

Bloody world was out to get me.

Hearing my hiss of pain, Garry came close to me and took my hand in his own, giving it his own inspection. He looked at it for a couple seconds before he reached down with one hand and ripped a piece of his shirt off without hesitation and he began to bind my hand, carefully covering each cut with the cloth.

I grimaced slightly as I got used to the sensation. As soon as Garry was done, I turned to face the group and called Yukio over. He seemed slightly confused, and I couldn’t really blame him for being confused, but I needed to talk to him. “Why did you call me over?” he asked softly, somehow sensing that I didn’t want the others to hear despite the fact that we were all packed in in the small room.

I lowered my head slightly so that I could whisper to Yukio and minimize the amount that the others could hear. “Those vines on the door are stronger than they appear, but they’re also incredibly sharp” I say gesturing towards my bandaged hand. He nodded slightly but still looked confused.

“And what do you want me to do about it?” he asked. I rolled my eyes, god could he get any denser? How were we related? I clearly took all of the brains. “It needs to be burned, but I can’t use my flames here” I growled quietly. Honestly, and he called himself a teacher.

I saw realization dawn on his face and then worry began to set in. I have a lighter, but the flames that leave it are also blue. They’re not Satan’s flames though, so don’t be alarmed when it happens. I’m going to let Garry use it, so be prepared to explain that because he’s a demon that was originally created in this world the flames take on the color of his rose.” I said hurriedly.

The others were beginning to shift nervously, anxiously awaiting what would happen next. Izumo looked the most uncomfortable out of everyone. I could understand why, if it had been Garry that was lost – _yet again_ – I would be the same. I turned to Garry and discretely slipped him the lighter, nodding at him. He knew what to do.

He walked a couple paces closer to the vines before turning to the others and saying softly, “you should all get as far away from the doors as you can alright?” The others, while confused nodded and did as told, especially after I followed those instructions without question. Once we were a safe distance away, Garry lit the lighter and set the vines on fire.

The beautiful royal blue flames ate away at the brittle dead vines incredibly fast, almost faster than the first time, and in no time the entrance to the door was open. I heard a bunch of gasps behind me and a chocked out gasp of “S-Satan’s flames!” This was the time for Yukio to step in. I shot him a pointed look and eventually he seemed to get it.

He pushed his glasses up nervously as he tried to explain “actually those aren’t Satan’s flames. If you look closely you’ll see that it’s actually a deeper blue identical to the color of Garry’s rose. I have a theory that since it was with him when he died, here if I might add, the powers of this world fused that together?” he asked more than stated, but it would do.

He seemed confident enough in his explanation that the others didn’t question it, even though some looked like they wanted to. Deciding to take charge once again before people could ask any more questions, I began to walk towards the door, Garry falling to my left naturally. I soon heard shuffling as they followed us into the new room.

It was drawn in the same dark pink crayon, but there was a more sinister feeling to this room. It was in the aura, just… evil and negative. It was a rather large room, but you could still see the other end of the room. There was a broken down frame sitting on the wall.

It was cracked and you could see a bunch of broken glass littering the ground amongst other things. There was still some coloring supplies and child’s toys, but they looked aged and worn down by time. Everything lay in tatters and there was ash everywhere.

We continued towards the end of the room to get a closer look at the destruction that had taken place. Unlike the first time, instead of simple childish messiness, everything looked like it had been torn apart and thrown in a tantrum. The broken glass was tinged with red at the edges. It didn’t look old, it looked fresh.

That was worrying, but as we go closer I almost gagged at the smell. It smelled like something had been left here to rot for decades. Like, I’ve created quite a lot of foul smelling things in my life, but this, _this_ was something else. This had to be the worst thing I’ve ever smelt in my entire life. _Damn_. But I did have some self-control, so I didn’t make any faces.

The others on the other hand, well they didn’t have anywhere near as much self-restraint as I do. Only a couple seconds after the scent first it people were gagging and making disgusted noises. I wrinkled my nose. Ughhhhh, why are they like this? It a serious situation and they’re more concerned about how horrible the smell was.

I moved closer to inspect the piles of ash and broken glass, “Smell is the weakest sense. In a few more minutes, you won’t even notice it.” I said dismissively. Honestly, did they even consider what caused the smell? I frowned as I picked up one of the pieces of glass. It was still sharp, so it hadn’t been handled all that often, but the blood could only be a couple hours old, it hadn’t dried.

“But what about the taste?” someone asked from behind me. I think that it was Shima who made that remark, but I was too busy poking around the ashes with my piece of glass. I rolled my eyes before responding, “I think that’s in our heads.” I continued to poke around in the ashes, pushing them around and generally making a mess.

Suddenly my piece of glass caught on something that wasn’t ashes. There was something hidden under a particularly big pie of ash. Pushing it further, but this time more carefully so as not to damage what was hiding underneath the ashes. I fell backwards after I finally finished unearthing the object. I was both surprised and horrified. How was this possible?

The others noticed that I had fallen down and rushed forward to see what had caused my alarm. Garry was the first to arrive and I felt more than heard him collapse beside me. “This isn’t possible” I breathe out. It really shouldn’t have been. Sitting in a pile of ash was a single drawing, more of a sketch really, of a beautiful blonde teen.

It was done with a pencil, but you could clearly tell that this person was no amateur artist. They had taken great care in drawing the woman. She looked incredibly sad, even had some tears dripping from her eyes. But there was also the underlying amount of fear in her eyes. It was somewhat easy to see why. The edges of the paper were torn and severely burned. Some of the tearing had actually marred the image of the teen and the burned edges had completely destroyed one of the girl’s legs.

But it wasn’t the slightly heartbreaking scene that really freaked me out. Though the blonde girl looked older, about my age, I recognized her. She may have been older and more mature looking, but all the basic attributes were there. It was unmistakably Mary… But I’d burned her. I’d ripped that damn panting from the frame and burned it into a pile of ashes.

How was this possible? Sure the picture was new, but… it was almost identical to the one I’d drawn earlier. That was creepy to say the least. And… if there’s anything that I learned from this world (and binge watching Doctor Who late at night to deal with living with Yukio trying to hide things from me) is (and the quote Doctor Who) that an image of an angel becomes and angel.

In this situation, that means that anything in this world has an image is real and something to be concerned about. If there’s a picture of Mary… that means she’s back. There’s no saying that she’ll remember anything from before, for all I know, it could be an entirely different Mary. But something deep inside told me that that wasn’t so.

There’s no way that I’d get away with something going his way. I’d gotten his one good piece of luck – killing Korosensei, even though it wasn’t exactly all that great for us since they’d had to kill our beloved teacher – and I wasn’t about to push my luck. The universe seemed to hate me, so this Mary would most likely remember everything from the first time.

She’d probably be extra vengeful too. “S-She’s back” I whisper. Just then, to prove that I had some of the worst luck ever, frantic footsteps echoed down the hall as a figure ran into the room.


	24. The Orange Room

Rin P.O.V

I was internally panicking. I didn’t want to turn around, but I knew I had to. Even though I _knew_ what I would be turning to see. I decided to face the reality and turn around, it was inevitable anyway. I wasn’t surprised by what I saw, but that doesn’t make it any less horrifying.

Well it wasn’t horrifying at first. She was standing in the door way, looking both scared and angry at the same time. She was beautiful, despite all the horrible memories that would always taint her appearance to me. She was perfectly made up and her hair was done in beautiful 1950’s curls. She didn’t wear much make up, but her features were perfect anyway, like that of a painting. _Because she was_.

She still wore a plain green dress, but now it was more form fitting and it suited her well. She’d grown into her features and now appeared dainty, like Shiemi. “Who are you!” she demanded. God her voice hadn’t changed at all. Her bright blue eyes swept across the room searching for someone to answer, and eventually her angry eyes landed on my own panicked ones.

Her eyes widened slightly before her face lit up with glee. “Ib!” she shrieked, then she saw Garry over my shoulder and she shrieked again. “Garry! You guys are alright! Oh I’m so happy you’re both alright!” she squealed happily. I was still in a state of shock. How was she _here_?

“Y-you’re d-dead” I stuttered out. She looked perfect, like a porcelain doll. But I _burned_ the painting. In fact, I burned both of them. How was any of this still here? Was it really demons or was it something else entirely? She frowned before staring at the others.

“How’d you get in this room?” she asked, ignoring my statement. She looked almost confused at this moment. “You’re not supposed to be able to get in here. You need to leave.” She said as her confused expression began to morph into one of anger. “LEAVE!” she screamed at us. I flinched backwards at the force of her voice.

There really wasn’t much to be afraid of, to be honest. But… there was just certain traumatic child hood events you don’t get over. She was mine, she’s one of the main reasons why I’m to the way I am. But then she had to go and blow the last of my securities away, because she _changed_.

Not in the grown up way, that I can deal with. No, in her angry state, her entire appearance began to deteriorate. That elegant green dress that was perfect? Well it began to develop burns around the edges of the skirt and there was tears everywhere showing burned and mutilated skin.

Her perfect 1950’s curls began to fall away into a tattered and matted mess. There were sections of her hair missing and the rest that remained was either matted and tangled beyond recognition or burned at the ends creating awkward length differences. But the worst change had to be her hands and her face. She seemed to have pulled her old pallet knife out of nowhere, and it was in its own state of disrepair.

It was bent and I think there’s a section missing from the tip. The handle and the edges of the blade were covered in blood. But that paled in comparison to her hands. Some of her fingers were obviously broken or dislocated. The hand not clutching the blade hung limply at her side bleeding lazily. The fingernails on both hands were torn apart, a quick glance at the walls revealed she’d tried to claw at the walls.

There were burns on her other hand, and some were so bad you could see the bones in her hand. But even _that_ paled in comparison to her face. Now this was a real horror story. It looked like she’d tried to melt her face off an half succeeded. The skin was varying shades of red and some of it was melted down her face. Another part of it was completely melted off.

Some of it was in the process of falling off of her face. But, she’d obviously gotten her hands on a stapler and tried to staple it back onto her skull. Ew. That’s absolutely disgusting… and the completely wrong thing to do in this situation. Ugh.

She had a completely insane grin on her face and her left eye kept twitching. “I said _LEAVE!_ ” she growled low and dangerous. She took a step forward and cracks began to appear on the floor. It was almost as if a giant had stomped on the ground. Or a bushy haired hobbit stomping and yelling ‘I’m in a rage!’, but you know take your pick.

As soon as she began to move forward I turned and fumbled in the ashes and grabbed desperately at the partially burnt drawing. I smacked Garry and held out my hand impatiently. Luckily he seemed to get it and he placed the lighter in my hand. I flipped it open and began to try and get it to light. Of course, it decided that now would be the time to not light. My life.

She was ten feet away when the lighter finally lit. I quickly set the drawing on fire and it lit up instantly. She stopped in her tracks as soon as the page lit up. There was about a second before anything happened, and then she let out an agonizing scream. She dropped the pallet knife and moved both of her hands to clutch at her chest.

“Y-you’re going to pay, Ib” she manages to choke out before letting out another scream. Despite the amount of pain she was in, she was able to get that one sentence out, loud and clear. Then she started to collapse. Her skin turned transparent and it became very clear very fast that she was burning from the inside out. It was truly a gruesome sight.

The last of the paper fell to ashes on the floor and she soon followed. After her shrieking ended the room was blanketed in a heavy silence. I let out a sigh of relief and fell back against Garry. I let out yet another shaky breath before trying to get up. I stumble a bit, but I make it up eventually. “We should go” I say softly putting a hand on Yukio’s shoulder.

Now that I was up and eye level with everyone (well close enough to eye level) I was able to see how Mary’s rather dramatic death affected everyone else. Shiemi was crying softly, Konekomaru just looked surprised. Shima’s eyes were hollow and Bon and Izumo just looked angry.

Yukio looked shell shocked, but at least he was functioning. Shura just looked sad. Yukio put his arm around Shiemi’s shoulder and he began to lead us out of the room. Shura clapped Bon on the shoulder and brushed past him to get out the door. Everyone else shuffled out of the room silently. I remained in the doorway for a couple of seconds, sending one last sad look towards the end of the room where a small child’s only possessions lay.

Once we re-entered the small room, I was pleasantly surprised. Like last time, there was indeed another door there. Well at least that hadn’t changed right? I brushed past the others and walked out of the room, trying to keep my head up in a show of false confidence; Garry shadowing my steps. Every leader was allowed a moment of weakness; Mary’s death was mine.

Exiting the room, we found ourselves back into the large room filled with puzzles that we had been in before falling into the toy box. From there it was a simple matter of walking to the center of everything and opening the pink room. There was an opening to yet another stair case in the middle of the room, and I lead the solemn group down the stair case.

Now if I remember correctly, we will be back into the gallery at the end of the stair case. I smiled ruefully; it was almost over. Well, we still had to find Paku… but I had a gut feeling that everything would work out. (Cinema Sin moment) We’d find her before we’d left. It was something about this world, but I doubted we’d be able to leave until we knew for certain what her fate was.

I hadn’t been able to leave until after seeing Garry die and killing Mary myself. It was a long and silent walk, no one wanted to talk as we made our way down the stairs. We made it to the end, and walked in to the next room. Yukio frowned, “but this is the entry way to the gallery? I don’t understand, it still feels wrong” he muttered.

I mentally grinned, his sense were getting stronger. Maybe I wouldn’t have to coddle him so much from now on. Outwardly I was solemn, “We’re still stuck here, as far as I know. I believe we have a couple more things left to do before we’re home free, but there shouldn’t be any danger in the gallery” I say softly. I don't want to be too loud. I feel like I’m disturbing the silence at a funeral.

Because these teens, these poor naïve teens have probably never witnessed anything like that before. That was their first, and unfortunately, in this line of work, there was no way that it’d be their last. If they last that long anyway.

We walked into the gallery and I was about to lead them towards the painting that lead back to reality, when I noticed something. There was another path? This wasn’t there the last time… it was rather odd. It was in the middle of the wall and it looked as if it had always been there. It was odd, I’d _never_ seen it before. So far everything in this horrible world I’d seen a version of it before.

But this… this was different. I’d never seen any version of this stair way before. I shot a confused look at Garry before I walked towards the new doorway. He had an adorable little frown on his face as he followed me. I examined the doorway and placed my hand just in front of where the wall should have been. It might be a simple painting on the wall.

But as I began to move my hand forward I met absolutely no resistance. There was actually yet another pathway for us to go down. I began to move down the stairs saying “this wasn’t here last time” with a slightly displeased and apprehensive voice. I didn’t really want to find out what other horrors lay inside this hidden path, but there was a chance that Paku had been sent down there, so we had to.

“Is that the way to the exit?” Bon asked in a gruff voice. The others began to follow me down anyway, there really wasn’t anything else they could do. I answered Bon with a simple “nope” popping the ‘p’ for added effect. That seemed to be enough for him, even though it wasn’t usually. That was a bit alarming. It was at least cause for some worry, Bon never gave up without a fight if he was fighting for something he wanted. In this case he wanted information.

But he just accepted my simple answer. Mary’s death must have affected him more than I originally thought. Group counselling and psyche evaluations were definitely going to be a must when we get out of here. It wouldn’t be good for them to dwell on all the negative of this world without aid in working through the darkness.

As we continued down this long stair case – how many damned stairs can there be in this world? – Garry’s frown only deepened more. Then there was this look of dawning realization on his face. “Wait, now I know why this place feels familiar and why the painting on the floor was completely new!” he said, “This was where I entered the world the first time!” His words were confirmed by the fact that once we reached the bottom of the stair case and entered the door we ended up in the room where I’d found Garry’s rose the first time.

I looked around surprised to see the difference form what it was even the day before. Now it looked like all the lights had gone out, everything was covered in a light layer of darkness, allowing us to see, but making everything incredibly eerie. The only definite source of light was our roses, which had decided that now would be a good time to glow softly. It let off a bit of light that was surprisingly calm and docile. It had no feelings of malevolence what so ever.

I held my rose up to get a better look at the window beside a door and nearly jumped in surprise when a red substance began to drip down the glass from the top. I sneered and moved away, determined to move on through the next puzzle. The world wouldn’t open a new doorway if it wasn’t important. The world was sentient dammit.

Moving to the left, I suppose I wasn’t all that surprised to see that the hallway was no longer there. It seemed we’d have to go through the door on the other wall. Heaving a resigned sigh, I walked towards the door. We might as well get it over. There was a chance that Paku had somehow been transported to this part of the world. There’s no way I’m going to leave without making sure that we’d done everything we could to find her.

I’m pretty sure that once you leave this world there’s no going back, so I’m going to have to take the others with me. At least they were compliant now, although I wish it was under better circumstances. Unsurprisingly, behind the looming grey door, there was another color themed hall and another door to match. This time it seemed, that the chosen color was orange.

I wrinkled my nose, I’d always hated the color orange even though my hair was a pretty close color. Now the color simply reminded me of Asano’s hair. Yep, it was that ugly shade of orange combined with the god awful month old orange (the fruit) color. Whoever designed this place needs to be checked for colorblindness.

There’s no way that someone who can see color would chose these horrendous color combos. It was simply preposterous. Through that doorway was a large room that was no doubt filled with a bunch of puzzles we’d have to solve to get to another room. To the left of us was the biggest snake I’d ever seen. It was enormous, and when I say enormous, I mean _flippin’ huge_.

Like this snake was ridiculously huge. It was my height and at least 3 times my width. Who came up with these things? Seeing that we wouldn’t get anywhere trying to climb the stupid _sleeping snake_ without waking it up we chose to go up the steps and through an alcove to another room.

There wasn’t much there, just a bunch of small paintings lined up on a wall. They were colorful admittedly. But they still clashed horribly with the wall color. (Seriously, nothing went with month old orange!)

After poking my head in the room and deeming it unimportant – well for now – we went up the rest of the short steps and turned left. Maybe there was another way around the snake? Nope, there apparently wasn’t because there was a giant crack spanning across the hall. Are you kidding me? Could nothing ever be simple for us?

Of course it couldn’t because there was another damned ant. But apparently this was a white ant. Lucky us, of course the new puzzle would defy the laws of nature. Why can’t anything ever be normal? It is times like these that actually make me miss middle school when out biggest problems were getting good grades and figuring out how to kill our teacher.

Things were so simple and clear then. Anyway, I decided to talk to the ant, because why the hell not? “I’m a white ant. I can’t cross this hole. I wanna go home” it said simply. Well then, of course the white and wants to go home. There wasn’t anything else it could possibly want that might be slightly easier to obtain.

Then I remembered something. There was that room with the paintings (we couldn’t really access anything else right now so that answer had to be in there) there was probably a painting that we could use. Turning on my heel, I ran to the other room and began to read the titles of the paintings. I was sure I had seen something, Aha! There was indeed a painting of an anthill hanging on the wall.

Luckily it was low enough that I could get a good grip on the painting, and I was able to remove it with it. Rushing back out of the room, I approached the ant again. “Hey, that’s my home, put it down for me.” It demanded. Wow, rude much? I put it down, but laying it so that it covered the crack in the ground. Painting here were pretty sturdy, I figure this will hold if we walk over it. “Oh there’s a way back now, I’ll go home then” it tells us. Then it scurries into its home and we are on our way.

Finally being able to move across the gap, we continued to explore the hall. There wasn’t much there, just a couple of paintings. There were some odd titles, and a painting of a candle that had a title indicating it held a flame? But this candle had been blown out. Guertena must have been on something, his art is just a little too messed up, and not in a good way.

We made our way down over to the area on the other side of the giant snake. There was this giant… _thing_ on the wall. It was a pretty abstract all things considered. There was a blue and red flower thing? And a dripping yellow crescent moon on a background of a navy blue starry sky. The dripping yellow fell behind 2 overlapping frames. From behind the two frames, there was two white pieces that hung down limply.

But in the center of the entire thing, there was this giant tear. It was like someone had punched their way out of it. “Is this… a clock?” Garry asked, shocked, “I’ve never seen one so big!” I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Garry to marvel at the clock. Goodness gracious. “But it doesn’t seem to work… I wonder what that black thing in the middle is?” he said to himself.

Going towards the door on the left of the sleeping snake, we walked into a room filled with boxes and a couple art exhibits. Well, only one really, and it was a rather odd sight. It was of a homeless man, dressed in a combination of garbage bags and other plastic sheets. He had un-kept hair, and what looked like absolutely no facial features. Just lovely, I can’t wait for that to come alive and try to kill us. It was titled ‘Mistake’. “Putting a ‘mistake in a frame and giving it a title… how strange” I mutter.

On the other art stand there was painted words, almost like graffiti, but smaller and bit more elegant. “My heart goes to art. My spirit goes to my creation” Izumo read. Her voice was thick from not having spoken for an extended period of time. It was an odd message, but it was written by an artist. What do you expect?

We moved past the two art exhibits and approached a winding path. There was an odd noise coming from the path. It was a series of swooshes and thuds. As if something was sailing through the air and hitting the walls. I carefully crept into the hall when suddenly an arrow came out of nowhere and nearly took me out. It landed a centimeter away from my nose. That was a close call.

Deciding to be more careful, I crouched and motioned for the others to follow my need. The arrows sailed over our heads as we crept up the path. There was a black rose tile laying on the ground at a fork in the path. I stepped on it and it broke. Luckily, that seemed to be the right thing to do, because all of the arrows stopped flying. Cautiously standing up, we ventured into the new area.

There wasn’t much there. Just a single painting on one end (it was of a beautiful midday sky with fluffy white clouds), and something gold on the wall on the other. Upon closer inspection, the gold thing on the wall was discovered to be a golden butter fly nailed to the wall. There was a little plate under the butterfly. It read “imprisoned flame.”

Going against my better judgment, I decided to pull the needles holding its wings to the wall out, releasing the butterfly. As soon as it was free, the butterfly flew away, traveling down back the way we came. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shiemi perk up slightly at the sight of the beautiful creature. It was a rare thing that looked nice (and probably was) nice in this world.

She had an innocent look in her eyes, even though it looked a bit dimmer than before. I was still glad that she was able to keep some of her innocence despite what she’d seen (even if it could have been a thousand times worse). On a whim, or so it seemed, Shiemi chased down the butterfly, all of us following her.

She managed to catch it, and it sat happily on her hand as she delicately stroked its wings. She cooed softly at it. I decided to let her keep her butterfly, it wasn’t harming anyone yet. Somehow, when we were chasing after Shiemi and the golden butterfly, we made it back to the art exhibits where the graffiti like writing was. Beside it was a giant snake tail. That got me thinking, what if we pulled the tail? We’d open up the path so that we could pass through it.

Voicing my thoughts, I moved over to the tail and got a good grip. The others (save Shiemi because she was still holding the butterfly) rushed over to help, and soon we’d moved the tail enough that the snake’s head would no longer block out path. It was at that moment, that the ‘mistake’ broke out of its frame and began to wander around blindly.

It had no eyes, nose, or mouth. Heck, it didn’t even have ears, there really wasn’t anything about it that was a cause for worry. So I ignored it and we left the room as quickly as possible, locking it in the room behind us.

Turning to the other door, I opened it cautiously in case another monster decided that that was the time to jump scare us. We were met with only pitch blackness. I pulled out the lighter and tried to light it. Of course it was that time that it decided to _not light no matter what I did_. Deciding to not deal with _that_ at the moment, we closed the door. Then Shiemi squealed as the butterfly in her hands flew away.

Considering we had nothing better to do, we chose to follow it. It went back up the way we’d come from after giving the ant its home and disappeared into a painting. It was ‘Light Within the Canvas’, the one with the candle. But instead of it being simply an unlit candle like before, the butterfly now sat upon it, emitting a soft glow, a bit brighter than our roses.

We could use this to provide a bigger source of light than our roses could produce. Grabbing it and lightly pulling it off of the wall, I handed it to Garry and we made our way back to the dark room. “Stick close together, I don’t want anyone else disappearing” I said.

Then without waiting for anyone to respond, Garry and I walked into the dark, taking the light source with us. It was difficult to navigate the room, especially considering the fact that we were all huddled together to make sure we all stayed in the light, and to make sure that we all had some form of physical contact with each other.

We wandered around the room, bumping into boxes as we went. I didn’t know what we were searching for, but I think it was mainly to just cover the entire room. There were many different canvases standing amongst the boxes. Each canvas had a giant colored number splashed across the canvas. Each one of the canvases were different styles. It was an odd sort of puzzle, and I committed all of the paintings to memory. Who knows when I’ll need it.

There was a purple 9, a green 1, a blue 2, a yellow 3, and a red 7. As we continued wandering around, something – most likely a piece of china? – fell and smashed all over the floor right in front of me. I’m ashamed to say that I had a mini heart attack. The monsters don’t faze me, but a piece of broken glass does? I’m great at my job, shut up.

I was slightly comforted by Garry’s surprised scream, which he’d later claim was a dignified yelp. “M-my word… Are you okay, Ib?” he asked softly. Great, now he’s asking how I’m doing. Not that I’m hating on him caring for me. No, I actually love it when he shows concern, but he was asking in front of the others. That makes me look weak.

But since I’m in a very bad frame of mind – Paku is still missing, I’d just killed Mary _again_ , and we were still trapped in this place, not to mention that it was completely uncharted territory – I snapped. “Garry, you’re little scream was scarier” I said flippantly.

I heard a couple snickers coming from Bon and Shima and the corners of my lips rose slightly. Hey, I got my traumatized classmates to loosen up a bit. That was a win in my books. Along the back of the room, there was a switch. It was labelled ‘alarm for the clock’, so naturally as we were passing it I flicked it. There was a little ding like when your pop tarts are ready in the microwave and nothing else. Figuring it was pretty much a dud we continued.

There was a painting hanging on the wall to the left of the switch. It was pretty high up, so we actually had to hold up the candle. Well Garry had to, but you get the point. It was titled ‘Malice’s True Form’. Lovely, this is just what we need.

Still, curiosity got the better of us and we (Garry) lifted the light to see it better. Yup, that wasn’t worth it at all. There was a frame on the wall, but the picture or painting didn’t exactly fit inside the painting. There was an overflow on the top. It was a giant red… blob. There really wasn’t a better way of explaining this.

It was red, goopy and ew. It had this hole in its ‘head’ that I would assume was an eye. And when we held the light up it made this noise. It was like a noise that a stuffed baby toy makes when you trigger the noise box. For Malice’s true form, this seems a little tame. As soon as it made that noise Garry lowered the candle.

We began to walk away from the painting, but then it made that noise again. Just lovely, I wonder what that could mean. Because we’re idiots, we went back and lifted up the light. And of course Malice’s true form was missing. There was simply a blank frame left behind. “I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to stick around to see where Malice’s true form got off to” Shura grumbled. Nodding in agreement, we quickly left the dark room.

When we left the room I was surprised to see that the whole in the middle of the clock (?) had been filled with what actually looked somewhat like a clock face. Sure it may have been blank but it had two very sharp looking hour and minute hands. There were words on the blank clock face too. “Truant Seconds Hand” Bon read, what a fitting name.

There was a panel below where you could enter 5 numbers. I love these puzzles. If you can’t tell, that was sarcasm. WE had 5 numbers, but had no idea what the order could be. Hmm, what if we tried the order that the colored frames were in in the room where I found the ant hill picture? That actually seemed like the right thing to do, so we entered in the numbers (72391).

There was a horrible cracking sound – you know the one when someone cracks their neck, yup it’s _that_ sound – and then the dangling white things began to move like a grandfather clock’s pendulum. The clock hands then moved upwards, and there was a weird sound. Then, because the world is just trying to screw us over, what little light there was got even dimmer. It was like walking outside in the dark only by the light of the moon, without the street lamps.

Looks like our luminescent roses would come in handier than originally thought. And then, just to screw us over just that little bit more, the butterfly decided that now was the time to leave the painting. Garry placed the paining down on the floor, there wasn’t a point of having it anymore right? We wandered around for a bit, no clue what to do next when we crossed paths with the white ant once more.

It simply stared at us before declaring that it was hungry and that we needed to give it food. I sighed, no logic in this world what so ever. Pulling a bag out of my pocket I shook out a couple candies. “Will these do?” I asked it. It seemed to appraise them for a little bit, then let out a huff and declared that it does not want to eat them.

Well then. So our next mission was to scour the place for something the ant could eat, because it obviously had a key to the only door that was still locked. The tulips that had been guarding the door were now wilted and would no longer be causing us any problems, but the door was still locked. It took us about 15 minutes before Shiemi suggested that maybe there was something that we could use in the room where we’d locked ‘mistake’ in. Grumbling, I told them to stay behind while I went in a searched.

Expertly dodging the handicapped creature, I summoned a bit of fire in my hand to see a bit better. I searched for a couple minutes before I happened upon the painting at the back that used to be a lovely day sky. Now it was a clear night sky filled with stars. But there was something odd about one of them. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a clump of glitter just slapped onto the painting.

I carefully pealed it off the painting. This was the closest thing we’d found to food so far, it couldn’t hurt to try. Making sure to extinguish the fire, I left the room to show the others. Showing them the clump of glitter we went to make our way back to the ant.

But as soon as we turned the corner, we were greeted by Malice’s true form. Lovely. Deciding to avoid that, we simply went the other way. It took a bit longer, but I really didn’t feel like fighting with Malice’s true form. That was beginning to become a mouthful. Fortunately the ant accepted the clump of glitter and then told us to wait a moment as it disappeared into the ant hole.

It came back a moment later with an orange key. I took the key and thanked the ant. You must always be polite after all. Unlocking the door by the tulips, we went through and were greeted with applause. Now the actual world was mocking us. Just perfect. I was seriously loving the place more and more as we went. (Once again sarcasm).


	25. The Turquoise Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... the first part of this story is over... it's almost surreal. I hope everyone who's subscribed to this and read it has enjoyed it. I feel I've grown a lot as a writer, and I hope that the sequel will be better.

Rin P.O.V

We walked up more stairs, turned a corner and walked down stairs, because reasons. Then the stairs out of the blue, changed colors and we’d entered turquoise territory. This place looked a lot more like the typical art gallery than any of the other locations so far.

Sure the colors were a bit more… bright than before, but there was pedestals and art exhibits everywhere. On the wall right before a turn which no doubt lead to a room full of art, was yet another written message.

“Drown in the abyss…” Yukio read out loud. Konekomaru looked both confused and panicked at those words. It was an amusing combination, I never liked the snotty little nerd. I don’t have anything against nerds, but he always took it a little too far and made it a weakness instead of a strength.

As expected, there were countless art exhibits on display in the large room. And there was almost as many door. This would get tiring real fast. There was a hallway on the left side of the room, so we chose to go through that one first. There was a notice posted on the wall, so we chose that instead of an unmarked door.

“Cycloptic Smile: A Study. Focus your eyes and look… who is the one that lives?” Shima read aloud. “What is that even supposed to mean?” he asked. I suppose we’ll find out, but this sounds an awful lot like a puzzle. Walking into the room, I almost wish that we’d chosen _any other door_ to go into. This was ridiculous.

Every square inch of this place was lined with photos of a smiling cyclops. They were all the same of course, and they covered the wall like wallpaper. It was actually horrifying. There was a piece of canvas in the corner, and I picked it up. Well if we couldn’t solve this puzzle at least we got something out of it. I rolled it up and tucked it under my arm.

This was probably a clue for something we could use later. Choosing to leave that room for now – I did _not_ want to stare at a bunch of paintings and play ‘find what’s different’ right now – we backtracked and went downwards and into an unmarked door. Got to start somewhere right?

Unfortunately the inside of this room was even more confusing than the last one. I’m beginning to think that these areas were the rejects for the actual world that were just hidden away until now. Inside the room was many different freestanding walls, making it look somewhat like a maze. You could see all around the room, but there was still paths to take.

There was doodles literally everywhere. Have you ever seen the stuff that children draw on the walls? Well that’s what the room looked like. There were messy crayon marks all over the walls floor and even the ceiling. It was pretty absurd. Then there was the fact that there was little 2D stick men running around.

They were manly black, but there was a couple that were red and chasing the black ones. There was a sign to the left which I read aloud for the group, “Avoid red, chase black.” Well that was pretty straight forward advice if I say so myself. “So let’s split up and try to catch all of the black ones. It’s a relatively small room, keep communicating” I ordered. The others nodded and then we were off.

As we were making our way around the room I discovered a couple of things. In one corner, there was a blank picture book – most likely where we’d deposit the black stick figures – and a couple feet away from that was an easel covered in black ink stick figures. Must be where they came from.

As we continued running around the room chasing after the black stick figures, there was a lovely conversation happening. “I wonder what would happen if we ended up touching one of the red ones” someone called out, then there was a scream of pain from Shima and a pained admission “don’t touch the red ones… It just kicked me in the balls” the admission trailed off into a pained groan.

I would have laughed, had it not been for the situation. Shura had no such reservations and you could hear her cackle from any area in the room. A couple seconds later, the silence being filled by the sounds of footsteps and the little squeals the stick figures made when they got caught, Garry called out.

“Hey Ib! I found a piece of canvas! What should I do with it?” he yelled from across the room. I had just cornered yet another one of the little figures. Taking a moment to catch my breath after grabbing it, I yelled back “just roll it up and keep it under your arm!” I yell back. WE continued running around, and eventually we got everyone of the black stick figures.

We all re-grouped around the book and dumped the wriggling stick figures into the book. A soon as all of the figures fell into the book, it closed with a snap. Then there was a little chirping sound. That was odd. Turning to the left, we were greeted by a small bird. In reality wasn’t all that small.

You could actually argue that it was rather large bird. The only reason it would be considered small was it you compared it to the size of a human. It was about a foot in height and width. So really not small for a bird, but small to a human? It was pastel in coloring and rather pretty. It looked very round and fluffy, and it took a lot of self-control to resist the urge to simply grab and _squeeze_.

It was that cute. It looked like a cloud, but it made these simply adorable little chirps. Surprisingly, instead of Shiemi picking up the adorable little bird, it was Izumo. When we sent her odd looks, she simply glared at us until we let her hold the bird. WE walked up, until we were almost at the door, when something caught my eye.

It was another piece of canvas. I ran over and grabbed it before rejoining the group. We moved on to the room that was in the same place as this one, just on the other side from the way we came it. It had a little maze made out of cacti. They didn’t look all that harmful, but there was clearly two more canvas pieces visible.

There was once again rules to this room, so I read them out loud to the others. “Cactus Terrace. A patch of countless little plants. Those who step on them will surely induce their rage.” I placed a hand thoughtfully on my chin before turning to the others. “So that means don’t touch the cacti ok?” I said in a slightly condescending tone. But there was some worry underneath the surface irritation.

I didn’t want anyone else injured, Shima had already lost a couple petals and I think Izumo’s rose was beginning to wilt as well. I didn’t want anyone else losing petals from touching a cactus. As soon as we began to move through the cacti- being very careful because there was a small area in between each cactus plant – the painting that was beside the door came to life.

This world was ridiculous. Could it not have normal demons? Stuff the others might actually be useful against? No, it had to be a _splash of color_ that was chasing them down. It’s like Guertena wasn’t even trying anymore. The scariest thing in here had been the previous victims. That was sad.

We made it to the far end of the room as the splash of color got stuck in between the wall and the other piece of canvas. Seriously it couldn’t even be an intelligent one? Wow. I rolled up the piece of canvas and crushed yet another black rose. Once the rose had been destroyed, the splash of color ceased to exist.

Handing that piece – along with the other ne I was holding – to Garry, we back tracked and I grabbed and rolled up the other one. Then it was a simple matter of getting out of this room and selecting another.

Upon exiting the room, we discovered that someone had splashed a bunch of dark blue paints all over the floor. It looked dry, but as we walked we tried to stay away from the particularly deep looking areas. This time, we chose to return to the left side, and went to the back of the room where there was another door.

The layout of this room was very similar to that of the safe room. It had a couple book shelves and a small easel with a canvas already in place. The only difference was that there was a royal curtain in the back of the room. It appeared to be hiding a frame of some sort. Whether it was for a window or not, I couldn’t tell.

“Hey Ib…” Shiemi said softly, I turned to look back at her. After we had entered, everyone had spread out in the room and Garry closed the door behind us. I nodded for her to continue. “Would it be ok if we rested here for a bit? It’s been a long day, and we haven’t had a moments rest.” She said nervously. I thought it over before agreeing.

The others looked tired, and if I was going to be honest, I was tired as well. I pulled out my bag of candy and tossed a few to each person. “Get your strength back, we’ll get out of here tomorrow” I told them. The others immediately went and situated themselves around the room. Shura sat by the easel at the front of the room before passing out.

Yukio and Shiemi chose to lean up against the far book case, while Konekomaru, Bon and Shim leaned opposite to them. Izumo took her fluffy little bird to the very back of the room and they collapsed together. I chose to lean against the door along with Garry, and soon, I was out like a light. I trusted Garry to watch the others for me. Well, and to wake me up if anything did happen.

 

* * *

  

I was shaken awake a bit later. “Your turn for watch” Garry said simply, before he settled down for a bit of rest himself. I took this time to check out the room, pulling a couple books off of the shelf. At first it didn’t seem like there was much that would be useful. I learned that that cyclops woman had originally been painted with two eyes and that it had been stolen and then returned the next day, but I don’t know how that will help us exactly.

But then I discovered one book that might actually be helpful. It had a strange smell, and it was titled ‘Entering the Secret Room’. I’m pretty sure that’s useful information. According to the chapter titled ‘how to enter’ all one would have to do is ‘read the writing on the back of the east bookcase’. I of course immediately went to check the eastern book case, I was surprised that there was indeed writing. It was small and clearly meant to go unnoticed unless you were actually looking for it. “Next, look in the gap behind the long bookshelf” I whisper to myself.

There’s absolutely no way that this could go wrong.

I once read a report about a family being terrorized by a spirit that hid in the cracks between furniture and the wall. I hoped that this wouldn’t be one of those cases. Luckily, there was simply another message, but this time it was on a small piece of paper. There was also another piece of canvas, I quickly rolled that up and read the message. “Now look at the canvas” I mumble. It was at this time that I heard something hit the floor.

It was the sound of the curtains falling. There was an odd image on the painting, but I went ahead and checked the painting anyway. I was confident I’d be able to handle it if something happened. There’s a title on the lower-right of the painting. I couldn’t quite make out what was written there, so I decided to wait for Garry and the others to wake up. Maybe they’d be able to help me decipher it.

Wow, me Akabane Karma, the infamous lone wolf waiting for others to help. Nagisa would have a field day if he found out about this. Making a cursory glance around the room, I say something had been written on the easel. That hadn’t been there two minutes ago. That made me nervous.

Walking towards it as quietly as possible, I stopped once I was close enough to read it. “Close your eyes and count to three. Then it should be ready” I read quietly. What could this even mean? Three seconds was an awfully long time to be vulnerable. I could kill people in less time. But against my better judgment I did just that.

It was a nerve wracking three seconds, but I didn’t hear anything. Once the three seconds were up, I was surprised to see that something had indeed changed in the room. There was now a cord hanging from the center of the ceiling. Of course I had to go over and pull it. That’s when shit began to hit the fan – metaphorically of course. As soon as I touched the cord I found myself in a completely different room.

Of course this had to happen. Sometimes I made really bad decision. There didn’t appear to be a way out of the room, so it looks like I’ll have to solve the puzzle to return to Garry and the others. This should be easy.

There was moving picture on the wall and a message saying ‘___ crows and five ___” so I’d have to count. Lovely. I stared at the changing picture intently until Id figured it out. There was 3 crows and 5 fish. I entered the number ‘3’ into the red panel and the word ‘fish’ into the blue one. There was two little chimes telling me that I was right. I fist pumped because that was a victory in my books.

A piece of canvas appeared out of nowhere and I picked it up. Well at least this wasn’t a waste of time. Now all I have to do is get back to the others before they woke up and everything would be fine. Taking another look around the room, I saw something on the lower-right wall. It was a small switch.

I pressed it and I was back in the room in a flash. Fortunately it seemed that no one had woken up in my absence. Well, at least that’s what I thought. Only a couple seconds after I magically reappeared in the second safe room, I was enveloped in a crushing hug from Garry. “Ib!” he whisper yelled at me, making sure not to wake the others.

“You worried me so much! Where did you go?” he asked me sharply. I raised an eyebrow at him. Really? He shouldn’t be surprised by the stuff this world throws at us. “I was finding secrets” I say. “Speaking of secrets, can you help me decipher something?” I ask quietly. The others were still asleep and I wanted to keep it that way. He nodded and we made our way over to the painting.

He bent down and stared intently at the blurred writing. “You… won’t… like what… you… see” he read carefully. We exchanged a glance, I didn’t like how that sounded. Apparently neither did he. I shook my head lightly, “we should wake the others now, we need to get out of here today” I said firmly. He nodded and we made our way around the room, gently shaking the others awake.

Once everyone was awake we traveled back to the room full of the paintings. We all took a section of the wall and stared for a while. We’d have to solve this puzzle at one point, we might as well do it when we were well rested and alert.

It was a full 15 minutes later when Konekomaru let out a triumphant shout. “I got it!” he yelled happily, handing the piece of canvas over to us with a wide grin. I was honestly surprised to see such an expression on his face. Aside from Shiemi, he had seemed to be the one most freaked out right now.

But apparently victory was good for him. It certainly would help with his confidence levels. We moved on to the other end of the room. It also had a hallway instead of a door, so we chose that one instead of the stair case and the locked door. I seriously hated stairs. There was the typical notice that claimed that this was an endless hallway. Joy.

But then Izumo lost hold of her fluffy bird. It began to walk in a certain pattern, then it disappeared down to the end of the corridor. We followed the same pattern, and instead of an endless hallway, we found the end of the room in just a couple of steps. The bird hopped into a simple frame at the end of the hallway, and we gained yet another piece of canvas.

We left the hallway and tried the remaining door. Unfortunately it was locked. That’s just fine. We instead walked up more stairs. I really have a new appreciation for elevators and ramps now. I swear, I’m going to be so triggered by stairs after this.

Taking a left down a narrow hallway after we climbed the stairs we reached a room with a single art exhibit that was on the floor. There was giant hole in the ground. Behold, art. A literal hole in the ground, and it gets put in a museum. Sure this was probably the area where all the rejected stuff got put, but still.

There was a piece of canvas in front of the hole, and as I bent down to pick it up, someone shuffled closer and bumped me into the damned hole. Lovely. I was falling, but only for a couple of seconds, and while I was falling there were planets and other celestial bodies (damned science class) floating around me.

I groaned as I hit the ground hard, but I remembered my training and rolled to minimize the damage. Or at least to try and minimize the damage. It was the effort that counted. I found myself in a small room, with a jewelry box made out of glass, two panels with pictures of planets and a switch for each as well as a message written on the wall.

“Ib!” I heard Garry scream in panic. Deciding to try my luck, I yelled back. “I’m fine! But whoever bumped into me won’t be when we get out of here! I think I found a door! Don’t follow me down, just wait outside the locked door!” Hopefully they got my message. I heard some scuffling before a reply in the affirmative.

I then turned my mind to the next puzzle. Reading the clue – ‘which heavenly bodies weren’t there?’ – I began to flip the switches to see what happens. The pictures change, and I see a bunch of planets switch by. So clearly two of them weren’t there when I was falling. Now what to do… I kept flipping through them, going back to the few seconds where I was falling and trying to remember what I saw.

I finally decided on two. Once I stopped flicking the switches I waited anxiously for some sign that I had gotten something right. Even though I was waiting for something, I was still shocked when something did happen. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a gravelly voice came from the jewelry box.

“You solved my puzzle… you can have my treasure” it grumbled. Then it spit out a piece of canvas. Well, since that puzzle was solved, I might as well try the door now. Worst case scenario, I end up kicking down the door. No biggie.

But fortunately for me, I was able to unlock the door from the inside. I grinned mentally as I opened the door. The others were waiting out there impatiently, and I found myself enveloped in Garry’s arms once more. “That’s two times in the past hour you’ve nearly given me a heart attack” he mumbled into my hair. I suppressed a blush at his reaction.

“I’m fine” I assure him quietly before showing him my rather impressive collection of rolled up pieces of canvas. “Let’s spread these out over on the floor and try to piece them together.” I suggest. The others seem to think that it’s a good idea, but I hear Shura grumbling under her breath about how there was far too many ‘stupid puzzles’.

We spread the pieces out on the floor, and with our combined intelligences (though some were less help than other *cough*Shura*cough*) we managed to piece together a picture of an arm holding a paintbrush with a generic background. Looking up at the wall in front of us, there was an empty frame with a simple information plate.

It read ‘Guertena’. I frowned. “Could this really be the man himself? I heard Guertena didn’t leave any self-portraits…” Konekomaru said thoughtfully. Then some weird shit started to go down. The canvas pieces began to morph together until it was one piece of material. Then it _floated_ and placed itself in the frame. That’s stuff you only see in those sci-fi movies.

But this was a world fabricated by an eccentric artist, so really why am I surprised? Then because this could still get weirder, steps were formed allowing us to walk into the painting. Because there weren’t any other doors in sight, we walked through the painting, hoping for the best. We entered a dark room with a single spot light in the center. There was a rope wall keeping us from getting to the area that was in the light, but there was a single opening.

We all walked in single file. There was a single bed in the center of the room. It was diamond shaped, and there was someone lying on the bed. They were in a semi-sprawled semi-curled up position. I slowly approached the bed along with the others. I felt Garry rest of hand on my shoulder. As we got closer, I was able to tell more about the figure.

It was clearly feminine, based off of the clothes, and as we got closer I began to recognize that particular outfit. The girl on the bed was deathly still and I felt a pit begin to grow in my stomach. I prayed that I was wrong, I didn’t want to believe my eyes. But that was Paku, and it didn’t look like she was breathing.

I heard Izumo’s intake of breath next to me, and I closed my eyes in pain. I didn’t like how this situation looked. I carefully made my way to the front of the crowd and placed a hand on one of Paku’s wrists. It was cold to the touch, and there was no pulse.

Garry’s grip on my shoulder tightened. I closed my eyes and willed the tears to go away. I may not be all that close with anyone in this class, but Paku wasn’t cut out for this life. She wasn’t meant to die. She was meant to get out while she still could and live a normal life. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Izumo let out an agonized scream as she collapsed on the floor. I leaned heavily against Garry, glancing sadly at the girl laying innocently, almost peacefully on the bed.

It looked like she was sleeping, she was perfect, like a work of art. Laying in one of her hands was a rose stem. The delicate petals of her beautiful pink rose had all been ripped off of the rose and lay around her head. I stared on sadly as the others began to realize what Izumo had realized he second before.

Paku was dead, and she wasn’t coming back home with us.

I gave them their moment to grieve. We sat by the bed for an hour, just softly crying, before I placed a gentle hand on Izumo’s shoulder. I carefully pulled her to her feet, and said softly so as not to disturb everyone with a loud voice. “Come on, we need to go. It’s what she would have wanted for all of you.” I don’t know whether bringing Paku’s wishes into this was a help or if it hindered my attempt, but Izumo nodded even though the silent tears continued to stream down her face.

We walked away from the bed, I put my arm around her shoulder and allowed her to lean against me as we made our way out of the roped in area. Yukio managed to coax the others into following us. In front of a hallway was a single box. Opening it, I pulled out the contents of the box, only to find a single black key.

It appeared to be made out of some sort of black metal. I didn’t know how that was possible, but the key was cool as it rested in my palm. I clutched as we continued on. Walking through the corridor, we found ourselves back in the art gallery, before we went off onto the new path. I knew where we were, we were back on the script.

The others were still silently crying as I lead them over to the painting of the art gallery. It was in the same place that the ‘Fabricated World’ had been placed. After a couple seconds of staring at it, the frame winked out of existence.

“This is the way back… we should be going” I said quietly. My classmates, who still had silent tears streaming down their faces stared at the painting of the gallery. Shura, Garry and I were the only ones whose faces weren’t sporting drying or fresh tears. Shura was putting on a brave face of indifference, but you could see in her eyes that the death of Paku affected her.

Garry stared solemnly on, he didn’t know her well, but he mourned the loss of a young girl’s life. I wanted to cry, but I found that I couldn’t. I knew the others were far from ok, and this was going to take a long time to get over. For everyone. The others slowly climbed into the painting, and Garry gave my shoulder one last squeeze before he joined the others. He turned and offered me his hand.

I took one last sad look at the world surrounding me before I took his hand and left the Fabricated World. Hopefully this time, for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next story will have the aftermath of Paku's death and the Fabricated World. It will have the reveal of Karma's demonic origins, his AssClass friends, and yet another villain coming back to haunt him. There will be pain and heartbreak, and we'll get to examine the past I've given Karma a bit more as he connects with Izumo. 
> 
> Everything will have a connection in the next story, so please stick around! I probably won't be updating it for a while as I have a lot of other stories that need finishing, but I'm not giving up on the insane story. I have a story line written out for at least 3 more stories.


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